Kenya beats Uganda in Elgon Cup

Elgon Cup

Result

First Leg

Kenya 23 Uganda 18

Rugby Cranes upcoming fixtures

Gold Cup

June 24 v Kenya (Nairobi)

July 1 v Senegal (Dakar)

July 15 v Tunisia (Kampala)

July 22 v Namibia (Kampala)

August 5 v Zimbabwe (Kampala)

Favourites Kenya held hosts Uganda scoreless in the second half as they rallied from a seven-point deficit to win the first leg of the Elgon Cup 23-18 at Legends.

Stand-in captain Darwin Mukidza's flawless kicking (13pts), tries from Samson Onsomu and Martin Owilla plus all the other fundamentals that Kenya boasts over Uganda decided the hugely-attended affair and, we can safely add, the destiny of the 2017 Elgon Cup.

The second leg, which doubles as a Gold Cup fixture, will take place on June 24 in Nairobi but no one expects anything besides a Kenyan victory from that encounter. Still, there were positives in the performance of the Rugby Cranes, not least the ability to maintain a defensive structure that withstood waves of Kenyan attacks.

Man-of-match Marvin Odongo and James Odong scored a try each and Phillip Wokorach kicked his way to eight points but the Cranes run out of ideas in the second half, not unlike last year when they capitulated late en route to a 48-10 first leg defeat.

 Kenyan team warms up before the game

"The game was very hard, very physical and very fast," said Uganda captain Brian Odongo post-match.

The Kenyans have won nine of 10 Elgon Cups and title no 10 is certainly on the way.