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 MemHippoesorial 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.

Rwanda Rugby

The Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) as the umbrella organisation that unites the entire rugby fraternity in Rwanda. RRF has been administering, developing and generally organising all rugby activities for 13 years now, not only through out Rwanda but on the continental level as well. The RRF has since grown further countrywide with over 600 active players, 60 female players, a robust fun club, ardent well wishers and intensive involvement in the development of the game in over 70 schools from all districts in Rwanda not to mention the RRF’s participation in community projects.

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