When Western Spear stepped on to the RFUEA turf to play in the women’s cup final at the just concluded Kabeberi 7s, little was expected from the side from Western Kenya.
They had already outdone themselves by reaching this far and it was given that they would just go through the motions in the title decider against pre-match favorites, Yamanashi Impala.
Impala had already won two previous cup titles, the Prinsloo 7s in Nakuru and the Christie 7s in Nairobi, both finals against Mwamba.
Admittedly, Impala were without their key players who are away with the Kenyan national women’s team, the Lionesses, who are preparing for the World Rugby WXV3 tournament in Dubai and the Rugby Africa Women’s 7s in Tunisia. That aside, Impala, by virtue of their pedigree, were expected to dispose of Western Spear.
And they got off to the best possible start, Valentine Wafula turning on the afterburners to touch down with playmaker Anne Njeri to give the Ngong Road side a 7-0 lead at the break.
They were unable to build on this lead and as their error rate continued to go through the roof, Western Spear smelt blood, growing in confidence as the second half wore on.
They would eventually land two late unconverted tries through Nicole Hawi and Laureen Lawinski to pull off the most unlikely but sweetest of victories.
