Kenya overcome Brazil in Stellenbosch Challenge Thriller

Kenya overcame Brazil 36-30 this morning in South Africa. The thrilling contest was the Bronze Final of the Stellenbosch Challenge. Sleek back movements and flair saw the Africans overcoming the South Americans to claim a well-deserved victory.

Pedro Lopez was a standout for Brazil. The former Grenoble academy player carried strong; his runs gained valuable meters upfield. It was a platform from which Brazil was able to work off, arguably similar to that of Santiago Chocobares for Argentina.

Brazil started well; Lucas Tranquez landed two penalties to give Brazil a 6-0 lead in 14th minute. Kenya respond to open their scoring through fly half Jone Kubu. His successful strike  made it 6-3 late in the opening quarter.

Tre first quarter saw no tries. The remaining quarters were different. The first to score was Brazil’s South African flanker. Devon Muller broke the line to score. His 23rd minute try was converted by Tranquez.

Kube missed a penalty four minutes later. The Fijian more than made up for it as he broke clear to score in the try one for Kenya. He converted his own 30th minute try to reduce the gap to three points.

Kenya then built on the first try with a second. Center John Okoth burst clear, showed good pace and did very well to get the ball down in the try zone. Kubu missed the sideline conversion, though the try had already given Kenya the lead.

A Tranquez put Brazil 16-15 ahead in the 38th minute. However, it Kenya that was playing the better rugby. With runners finding holes outside center Vincent Onyala touched down for Kenya’s third score. Kubu converted to give Kenya a 22-16 half-time lead.

The third quarter was won by Brazil. Two penalty tries to Brazil meant Os Tupis were leading 30-29. In many ways the third quarter’s activity was a solid sample of the match in general; Brazil’s forwards were on top as were Kenya’s backs. This was underlined in Kenya’s response. Samuel Asati finished off a try against the run of play. Brazil fell off tackles as Kenya’s flair saw them over to score seven points.

The end of the match also ended Brazil’s international competition for 2021. Brazil’s two-match tour of Africa started with a 24-22 defeat against Zimbabwe six days earlier. The tour served Brazil as the first step in building towards RWC 2027 qualifiers. The players will now rest before turning their attention to the 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR).

Kenya are still in the frame for the Rugby World Cup. Kenya will compete in the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 iin France in July, 2022. The participating countries will be Namibia, Senegal, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. The tournament will decide who faces France, Italy, New Zealand and Uruguay in Pool A of RWC 2023.

 

SCORING

KENYA 36
Tries – J. Kubu 2 (29′, 44′), T. Okeyo (33′), V. Onyala (39′), S. Asati (65′)
Cons – J. Kubu 3/4 (30′, 40′, 66′), A. Matoka 1/1 (45′)
Pens – J. Kubu 1/2 (16′)
YC – T. Okeyo (42′)

BRAZIL 30
Tries – D. Müller (23′), Penalty try 2 (42′, 58′)
Cons – L. Tranquez 1/1 (24′), No kick 2 (42′, 58′)
Pens – L. Tranquez 3/3 (6′, 14′, 37′)

 

TEAMS

KENYA
1 Ian Njenga (17 Joseph Odero 62′), 2 Eugene Wesonga (16 Bonface Ochieng 77′), 3 Ephraim Bwire, 4 Malcolm Onsando (19 Brian Juma 69′), 5 Thomas Okeyo, 6 George Nyambua (20 Elkeans Musonye 77′), 7 Daniel Sikuta (capt.) 8 Joshua Chisanga (20 Elkeans Musonye 58′-66′), 9 Brian Tanga (21 Samuel Asati 55′), 10 Jone Kubu, 11 Andrew Matoka, 12 John Okoth, 13 Vincent Onyala, 14 Jacob Ojee, 15 Darwin Mukidza

Not used: 18 Patrick Ouko, 22 Peter Kilonzo, 23 Isaac Njoroge

BRAZIL
1 Caíque Silva (17 Alexandre Alves 55′), 2 Leonardo de Souza (16 Endy Willian 35′), 3 Matheus Rocha (18 Joel Ramírez 55′), 4 Cléber Dias, 5 Gabriel Paganini (19 Adrio de Melo 48′), 6 Matheus Cláudio (capt.) (20 Arthur Bergo HT), 7 Devon Müller, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Cunha (21 Douglas Rauth 48′-68′, 70′), 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Pedro Lopes (22 De Wet van Niekerk HT), 13 Gabriel Quirino, 14 Robert Tenório (23 Robson Morais 22′), 15 Lucas Tranquez

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)