Victoria Cup, Great Rift 10-Aside resume after two year break

A rugby fan enjoys a drink during the 2019 edition of the Great Rift-10 aside. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

As the Great Rift 10-Aside makes a comeback after two years, it will be held on the same day and venue with the Victoria Cup match pitting Kenya against Zimbabwe at Nakuru Athletic Club on May 21.

The preliminary matches of the 10-Aside will act as a curtain raisers to the epic encounter pitting Kenya against Zimbabwe later that evening.

Tournament director Eddy Moseti said they are happy to have it back following its cancellation owing to the effects of Covid 19 pandemic.

"It is good to have the epic tournament back after two years but its first matches will act as the curtain raiser to the Victoria Cup match pitting Kenya and Zimbabwe on the same day," Moseti said.

This will be a second time they will be hosting the Victoria Cup-match pitting the two teams, the first being in 2019 when the last edition of Great Rift-10-Aside was held.

In the last match, Kenya Simbas beat Zimbabwe 36-14 but the latter went ahead to win the title on a superior points aggregate on September 21, 2019.

On Sunday, Moseti said the tournament will take two days as opposed to three in its traditional format, where the first day is always used to host the Age Grading Championships.

"This time we'll not have Age Grading Championships as the event will only last two days but we'll revert to our tradition ways and calendar of the tournament next year," he said.

The tournament is normally hosted on Easter Holidays but this time it was pushed by a month due to unavoidable circumstances.

Nakuru County Government is the prime sponsor of the event with Chillies Restaurant and Coca Cola Limited as co-sponsors.

AAR and Hurleys are medical sponsors.

And with two weeks to the tournament, invitations have been sent out with those interested expected to confirm their participation this week.

Between 16-24 teams are expected to take part in the event.

All Kenya Cup League sides are expected to participate with the defending champions Menengai Oilers being an automatic entrant.