Jinja Hippos Rugby Club; the winner of the 2015 Genocide Memorial Sevens
Men’s final
Jinja Hippos 28 – 0 Remera Buffaloes
Semi-finals
Jinja Hippos 28- 7 Kigali Sharks
Buffaloes 7 – 5 Lion de Fer
Ugandan side Jinja Hippos lifted the second edition of the Genocide Memorial sevens rugby tournament on Saturday after a walk over against Remera Buffaloes at Amahoro Stadium.
The Buffaloes decided to forfeit the final after officials from the Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) turned down the former’s request to use three players from Thousands Hills Rugby Club.
“We are very happy that we managed to win the Genocide Mem
orial tournament title in our debut appearance. Honestly, we played well and deserved to win. However, we are sad that we did not get to play the final because we had earlier lost to the Buffaloes in the group stages and we wanted to prove to them that we are a better team,” explained Coach Jonan Manzi, head coach of Jinja Hippos.
The Hippos had earlier thrashed Kigali Sharks 28-7 in the semi-final to book a berth with the tournament favourites, Buffaloes who overcame bitter rivals Lion de Fer 7–5 in a tightly contested encounter.
According to the RRF president Alex Araire, the tournament rules were clear that clubs were only allowed to field only players from their club list in the national league, a decision which did not go down well with the Buffaloes’ faithful who claimed they were not made aware of this at the beginning of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Jinja Hippos’ George Okeno was named the Most Valuable Player of the event.