Kenya Simbas, the national men’s rugby 15s team came from behind to beat Uganda Cranes in the first leg of the annual Elgon Cup played yesterday at the RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi.
The Jerome Paarwater side recorded a slim 27-25 win against the visiting Uganda as the tournament returned to the capital since 2018.
Kenya went ahead when newcomer Griffin Chao’s unconverted try for 5-0 then Jeanson Musoga touched down for the second with Timothy Okwemba adding the extras for 12-0.
With Misoga on sinbin, Uganda with numeric advantage touched down with a converted try to make it 12-07 as Eric Mulamula’s try was converted by Shakim Ssembusi to make it 12-14 into breat.
On return, shot past the posts through the posts by Ssembusi with a penalty to hand Uganda a 12-17 lead as Brian Wahinya’s try was converted by Okwemba to make it 19-17 before Wahinya went past the try line for 24-17 but resilient Uganda reduced the scoreline to 24-22 as substitute Jone Kubu converted form the penalty for a 17-22 then a penalty for Uganda made it 27-25 final score with Simbas winning ahead of second leg in Uganda next weekend.