Wikipedia

2011 Safari Sevens

The 2011 Safari Sevens were the 16th annual edition of the Safari Sevens.

2011 Safari Sevens
Host nationKenya Kenya
Date4–6 November 2011
Cup
Champion Samoa
Runner-upSamurai Sevens
Plate
WinnerAuckland Vikings
Runner-up Zimbabwe
Bowl
WinnerTackling Cancer Tigers
Runner-upBristol University Select
Shield
Winner Uganda
Runner-up Rwanda
← 2010
2012 →

Tournament administration

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Venue

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After 15 years at the RFUEA Ground and growing attendances annually, the Kenya Rugby Football Union decided to take the tournament to the Nyayo National Stadium for the first time. Nyayo is a football and athletics stadium built in 1983 to host the 1987 All-Africa Games and has a capacity of 30,000; the 2010 African Athletics Championships were also held here. It is the headquarters for the Kenya Football Federation and Athletics Kenya. The rationale for the move was to allow room for more spectators as part of the KRU's bid to have the tournament included in the IRB Sevens World Series by 2015; it was reported[1] that IRB observers were in the country to monitor the event.

There were some worries prior to the event about the move, the area is notorious for robbers who attack motorists and pedestrians and at least one murder has been recorded there two years ago. The Police put in place a security plan including road closures to ensure the tournament passed without incident. Parts of Langata Road and Aerodrome Road were closed to motorists apart from those bearing VIP stickers; parking and shuttle busses were also put in place for the fans between the stadium and Highway Secondary School, All Saints Primary School and Kenya Railways Sports Club.[1] Security fears were vindicated after a woman was raped leaving the tournament.[2] Other commentators have said that the area is no more dangerous than the surroundings of the RFUEA Ground and that the attack was partially a result of bad luck or poor judgement to decide to walk home rather than take a taxi or bus.

Dates

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For the first time the tournament was held in early November, rather than the traditional June, in order to avoid clashes with other world class rugby events so that more prestigious teams could send sides to participate and thus further raise the prominence of the event in the world rugby calendar. The Rugby World Cup 2011 ended in October and the IRB Sevens World Series began two weeks later in late November. The hope is that the Safari Sevens will become a warm-up event to (and possibly even an integral part of) future IRB Sevens World Series.[3]

Ticketing

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Standard tickets cost KSh.300/= (Friday) or KSh.400/= (Saturday and Sunday) per day (KSh.1,000/= for all three days - equal to £6.39 stg., €7,43 or US$10.25). VIP tickets were KSh.1,000/= (Friday) or KSh.2,000/= (Saturday and Sunday) per day, KSh.4,000/= for all three days - equal to £25.58 stg., €29,73 or US$41.00).[3]

Match officials

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A strong panel of match officials blending experienced regulars from previous editions of the Safaricom Sevens with up and coming match officials from the region and overseas referees with international experience. Hong Kong's Lee Wing Yi Gabriel became the first top female referee to officiate at the Safari Sevens (though Kenya's own Sarah Agola, who also officiated, was a veteran of six tournaments having made her officiating debut at the 2005 tournament).[4]

The 2011 tournament match officials

Name Home Union Experience

Men's tournament

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Participating teams

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Hosts Kenya, Uganda and Bristol University from the United Kingdom are the only sides to have played in this annual event since its inception in 1996.[5]

The teams were as follows.[6]

Pool A

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Team Notes
  Kenya Tournament hosts and defending champions, have finished in the top ten every season of the IRB Sevens World Series since 2007–2008. Played for the first time under their new coach Mitch Ocholla in this tournament.
  Rwanda
  Uganda Featured at every Safari Sevens since its inception, putting in creditable performances. They have a great rivalry with hosts Kenya in both the sevens and fifteens.
 Universitaire de Grenoble An invitation team made up of players from the Université de Grenoble and FC Grenoble rugby teams.[7] Semi-finalists last year, they lost 0–22 to the Emerging Springboks.

Pool B

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Team Notes
 Auckland Vikings The representative team of Auckland, the 2011 New Zealand Provincial Sevens champions
 Bristol University Select An invitation team based around Bristol University RFC players but also features others from the Bristol region, including Clifton RFC and the professional outfit Bristol. Have played in every Safari Sevens tournament since 1996.
  Emerging Springboks The Emerging Springboks are a national representative side of players who have never won a full South African cap. They made their debut at the Safari Sevens in 2003 (losing to Kenya in the final). They lost to Kenya again in 2004 before winning in 2006 and 2007 (beating Zimbabwe both times).
 Mwamba RFC Kenya National Sevens Circuit Champions 2011.

Pool C

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Team Notes
  Goshawks The Under 21 National 7-a-side rugby team of Zimbabwe
  Samoa The 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series champions included 2010 IRB Sevens World Player of the Year Mikaele Pesamino (fourth in the all-time leading try scorers on the IRB Sevens World Series chart) in their selection.
  Spain Competed in several legs of the 2010–11 IRB Sevens World Series, they entered the Safari Sevens to hone their skills in the short version of the game.
 Tackling Cancer Tigers[8] A team of amateur American rugby sevens all-stars, led by coach James Walker from Belmont Shore[9] (listed as Belmont Shore RFC in some media). A former Kenya Sevens international, Anthony Ongoro, joined them for this, their first trip to Nairobi.

Pool D

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Team Notes
 Royal Welsh Warriors A team drawn from soldiers of the Second Battalion of the Royal Welsh Regiment, a recently restructured regiment of the British Army
 Samurai Sevens professional invitation side sponsored by Samurai Sportswear, was founded in 1996 by Terry Sands for the 25th Amsterdam Sevens.
  Tanzania
  Zimbabwe Frequent entrants of the competition, they have never won the title but have got to the main cup final on three occasions, 1996, 2006 and 2007.

Teams unable to attend

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Teams slated to attend but later withdrew included:[3]

Team Notes
 British Army rugby sevens team Replaced by the Royal Welsh Warriors
 False Bay RFC False Bay, South Africa
 Les Bleus Les Bleus Sevens is a non-profit organisation entirely independent of the FFR who also sponsor their own 7-a-side rugby team, Les Bleus, many of whom have gone on to play for the French National sevens side. see their website
  Namibia
  Zambia Cited security issues rather than a lack of funding for their decision to miss the tournament; Kenyan security forces had been engaged for three weeks in a military offensive inside neighboring Somalia after a series of terror attacks on Kenyan tourism targets. Mwamba RFC filled their berth.

Pool stages

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Results form the pool stages.[10]

Pool A

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Pool B

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Pool C

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The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament. Spain and Samoa tied on points and their head to head result; Samoa won Pool C by virtue of the fact they scored a total of 140 points to Spain's 76.

Pool D

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Knockout stage

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Results from the knockout stage.[11][12]


Cup

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Cup Quarter-finals Cup Semi-finals Final
      
  Kenya 12
 Auckland Vikings 7
  Kenya 12
 Samurai Sevens 29
 Samurai Sevens 17
  Spain 0
  Samoa 31
 Samurai Sevens 12
  Samoa 34
  Zimbabwe 5
  Samoa 19
  Emerging Springboks 10
  Emerging Springboks 24
 Universitaire de Grenoble 14

Plate

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Plate Semi-final Plate Final
      
1  Auckland Vikings 19
4   Spain 14
 Auckland Vikings 29
  Zimbabwe 12
3   Zimbabwe 19
2  Universitaire de Grenoble 14

Bowl

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Bowl Quarter-finals Bowl Semi-finals Bowl Final
      
  Uganda 0
 Bristol University Select 19
 Bristol University Select 26
 Royal Welsh 7
 Royal Welsh 7
  Goshawks 5
 Bristol University Select 14
 Tiger Rugby 17
 Tiger Rugby 52
  Tanzania 0
 Tiger Rugby 28
 Mwamba RFC 7
 Mwamba RFC 19
  Rwanda 5

Shield

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Shield Semi-final Shield Final
      
1   Tanzania 12
4   Rwanda 28
  Uganda 31
  Rwanda 0
3   Uganda 21
2   Goshawks 5

Women's Tournament Result

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Round-robin stage

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Knockout stage

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Women's Cup Final
   
1   Kenya 7
2   Uganda 5

Doreen Remour touched down for Kenya, which was converted by Irene Awino.

Men's Veteran Results

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Pool stage

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Pool 'A'

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Pool 'B'

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Knockout stage

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Veteran's Semi-final Veteran's Final
      
1 Quins Vets 44
4 Pwani (Coast) 0
Quins Vets 12
Nondies Vets 0
3 Rogue Buffaloes 0
2 Nondies Vets 15

Boys

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Provinces of Kenya
1. Central
2. Coast
3. Eastern
4. Nairobi 		5. North Eastern
6. Nyanza
7. Rift Valley
8. Western

[12][13][14][15]

Pools

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Pool 'A'

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Tanzania made history by putting together a national representative under-19 side for the event.[16] Zimbabwe also sent a national representative side as they have done to several previous Safari Sevens tournaments. Uganda sent their school national champions Hana Mixed School.[17][18]

All eight of the Kenya provinces were represented in the tournament.

Pool 'B'

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Knockout stage

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Boy's Cup

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Boy's Semi-final Boy's Final
      
1 Nyanza 0
4 Western 22
Western 15
Hana Mixed School (Uganda) 19
3 Hana Mixed School (Uganda) 20
2 Nairobi 0

Boy's Plate

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Boy's Plate-final
   
1 Nyanza 19
2 Nairobi 14

Boy's Bowl

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Boy's Bowl-final
   
1 Rift Valley 10
2 Zimbabwe 15

Boy's Shield

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Boy's Shield-final
   
1 Eastern 5
2 Central 25

Girls

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Group stage

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Pool 'A'

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Pool 'B'

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Knockout stage

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Girl's Cup

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Girl's Semi-final Girl's Final
      
1  
4  
Butere
Mukumu
3  
2  

Girl's Plate

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Girl's Plate-final
   
1  
2  

Girl's Bowl

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Girl's Bowl-final
   
1  
2  

Girl's Shield

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Girl's Shield-final
   
1  
2  

References

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  1. ^ a b "Capital Sports » Kenya in easy Safaricom 7s pool". Capitalfm.co.ke. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  2. ^ "The Standard | Woman raped coming from 'Sevens'". Standardmedia.co.ke. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  3. ^ a b c "Sevens". Safaricom. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  4. ^ "Leading female referee to officiate at the Safaricom Sevens". Safarisevens.com. 2011-10-28. Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  5. ^ "rugby: Uganda name youthful squad for Safaricom Sevens". Sportsnewsarena.com. 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  6. ^ "Safaricom 7s Teams". Safaricom.co.ke. Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  7. ^ "FC Grenoble Rugby | Ils sont du voyage au Kenya - Ils sont du voyage au Kenya Huit Rouge&bleu sont retenus dans l'Êquipe Universitaire de Grenoble... | Kenya, Grenoble, Rugby, Adrien, Helmer". Fcgrugby.com. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  8. ^ "Tough Draw for Tigers in Nairobi". Rugbymag.com. 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  9. ^ door tigerrugbytube's channel. "Kanaal van tigerrugbytube". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  10. ^ "l Kenya headline Pool A as Safaricom Sevens draw released". Facebook. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  11. ^ "Fixtures". Safaricom.co.ke. Archived from the original on 2012-01-01. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  12. ^ a b "Safaricom Sevens: Kenya lead the way to quarters". Facebook. 2011-11-05. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  13. ^ "rugby: Ayange's brace gives Kenya's perfect start in Safari 7s". Sportsnewsarena.com. 2011-11-05. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  14. ^ "rugby: Safari Sevens kick off, with Uganda dominating schools event". Sportsnewsarena.com. 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  15. ^ "Uganda: Rugby Cranes Safari Sevens Final". allAfrica.com. 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  16. ^ "Tanzania: Dar es Salaam Rugby Players Appreciate Safari Sevens Championship". allAfrica.com. 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  17. ^ "Zimbabwe Name Schools Side For Junior Safari Sevens". Zimbabwerugby.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  18. ^ "Schools Kick Off Safari Sevens". Zimbabwerugby.com. 2007-06-08. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2012-01-13.

1°18′15.1″S 36°49′28.1″E / 1.304194°S 36.824472°E / -1.304194; 36.824472

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