Kenya Chipu win Bronze in Barthes Cup

Felix Chacha (with ball) of Kenya’s Chipu tackled by Charles Mwadeghu of Uganda during their Rugby Africa U20 Barthes Trophy match at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on April 9, 2022. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Kenya Chipu won bronze as the 2022 Rugby Africa Under-20 Barthes Trophy came to an end at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.

Chipu thrashed Madagascar 49-15 in an entertaining third place playoff match.

The hosts, who narrowly defeated Madagascar 21-20 in last year's final at the same venue, dominated the match from kick off.

Led by captain John Baraka, Shujaa easily won with Gabriel Ayimba, David Mwangi, Kolian Persian, Winston Macharia, Cornelius Mukoro and Tonny Oketch all touching down tries.

Chipu lost 16-5 against former champions Namibia in the semi-finals on April 13, while Madagascar also suffered a 32-3 loss at the hands of Zimbabwe.

In other ranking matches held earlier, Tunisia defeated Uganda 24-11 after leading at the break to finish fifth and Ugandans sixth.

Ivory Coast finished in last (eighth) place after losing 22-8 against Zambia. Kenya had won the last two editions held in 2019 and 2021 in Nairobi.

The 2020 Barthes Trophy did not take place due to the coronavirus outbreak. This year's final pits Namibia against Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe were crowned the 2022 Barthes Cup champions in a hard fought final against Namibia.

Zimbabwe defeated favorites Namibia 19-14 to win their maiden title.