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Onyala is pleased Shujaa finished third in Uruguay but ultimately disappointed they could not make it back-to-back Challenger tournament victories.
Shujaa co-captain Vincent Onyala has expressed disappointment after they were ultimately unable to win the Uruguay leg of the HSBC Challenger Series after settling for bronze, a slight drop from their first-place finish in Dubai.
Shujaa are on course to qualify for the promotion playoff tournament in Madrid set to take place in May this year, with their utter determination being to return to the HSBC SVNS at the first time of asking.
Speaking after the side ousted Uruguay to finish third in the third-place playoff, Onyala revealed that the team still did well to maintain a primary top-four finish considering the circumstances that had engulfed them prior to the tournament, such as injuries and suspensions to key players.
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16:05 - 27.11.2023
RUGBY Onyala shares key off-field transformation under head coach Kevin Wambua
Shujaa have dominated at both the Olympic Qualifying tourney and the Safari Sevens tournament under the tutelage of Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua.
“It is a pleasing outcome but (ultimately) not the result we wanted,” Onyala said after the tournament.
“We had a few ups and downs but at the end of the day we pick what we have been given and move forward.”
Kenya will head to Munich in May level with Uruguay at the top of the standings. Chile is four points further back in third but holds a healthy six-point cushion over fifth-placed Hong Kong China in the overall men’s standings.
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18:13 - 09.03.2024
KENYA CUP Nondies silence Quins to set up heated semi-final playoff rematch as Mwamba fail guarantee play off spot with Nakuru loss
Nondies beat Quins in the last match of the regular season league action to finish fourth and set up a heated semi-final playoff against the same opponents again next week.
“With our numbers and the mathematics, I think we still remain top, and going into the last leg of the challenger, we will finalise the top four and hopefully get to Madrid and give our A game that will hopefully get us back to the HSBC Series.”
Shujaa came out on top at Estadio Charrúa as they cemented their place in the men’s Challenger Series top four with a 31-12 victory over Chile on Monday morning.
Kenya raced into a 19-5 half-time lead thanks to tries from Lamec Ambetsa Kokoya, Vincent Onyala and Anthony Omondi before John Okoth made sure of victory with a lung-busting break midway through the second half. Salem Adoyo and Luca Strabucchi swapped converted tries before the final whistle.
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21:53 - 09.03.2024
RUGBY Kenya Cup round up: Kabras finish regular season unbeaten as Kisumu thrash Strathmore Leos
Nondies beating Harlequin and Mwamba blowing playoff hopes with Nakuru loss aside, here is a recap of the remaining games of the last Kenya Cup regular season matchday.
Chile will rue missed opportunities, however, not least in the moments directly after half-time when Diego Warnken knocked on when seemingly sprinting home unopposed.
“We played them in the other tournament and proved to them that we can win and it is just proof that the challenger series has competition. Last time we won, this time we faltered,” Onyala said when asked about the closest challengers, Chile.
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