School Games: Butula Boys finally crowned Kenyan rugby kings

Butula Boys High School coach Shimenga Livondo is a relieved man after finally exorcising the ghosts of last year’s heartbreak in the secondary school games.

Butula on Saturday won their maiden rugby 15s title after an impressive 38-0 win over All Saints Embu High School in the final at Eldoret Sports Club.

It banished the grief of last year’s 33-0 loss to rivals Koyonzo Boys Secondary School in the rugby sevens final in Nakuru.

Butula’s Rayvon Ambale put up a man-of-the-match performance with one try, a conversion and three penalties to hand the Western Region school their maiden title.

They succeeded Kakamega High School as champions after their elimination in the Western Region Games.

Reuben Amani, Michael Lukusi, Michael Macharia and Adrian Khwesa also scored a try each for Butula in the lop-sided final.

“This was our best performance and it is only fitting that it hands us the title after last year’s heartbreak. The charges deserve it and we switch our attention to the regional games in Rwanda,” Shimenga said.

“We made it difficult for our opponents and the 10-0 lead at halftime set us up well for the victory,” he added.

All Saints coach Benson Mwenda was gracious in defeat, noting that they were schooled by their opponents.

“We didn’t have any answers to their questions and we got punished. We take the positives from this game and hopefully we will come back better next year. We still have the regional games to look forward to and we will prepare well,” he said.

St Anthony’s Boys High School, Kitale finished third after a slim 13-12 win over Nairobi Region’s Ofafa Jericho High School.

In swimming, Nairobi region emerged winners in the boys’ section after bagging nine points ahead of Coast region who scored seven points, while Rift Valley were third with six points with the same results replicated in the girls’ category.

Hamza Twalib from Coast was named the Most Valuable Player in the boys’ category having scored 60 points, while in the girls’ category, Audrey Chebet from Nairobi region and Bianchi Maria from Coast region shared the accolade with 60 points each.