Barthes Trophy 2022: Kenya Chipu advance to cup semis after thrashing win over neighbors Uganda

Hosts and defending Barthes Trophy champions Kenya Chipu got their title defense off to a perfect start as they outmuscled and outwitted neighbours Uganda 54-20 to power their way into the semifinals of the continental competition.

Having made a litany of errors in a first half performance that saw them lead 11-10 at the halfway interval, Chipu managed to come out of their shell as they scored fourty three points in the second half to confirm their place in the last four where they up a clash against a Namibia side they beat back in 2019 in the finals of the competition.

From the onset, it was very clear that the well built Chipu side would take advantage of their body size in stomping their authority in the match.

They did just that as they camped deep in the Uganda territory with scrummaging proving to be their strongest point as the Ugandans lacked any power to resist.

After several unsuccessful attempts in search of the game's opening try, the team finally decided to go for points as Conelius Mukoro converted a penalty awarded to the team to give Chipu the 3-0 lead.

Just upon the restart, Chipu undid all their hard work as a handling error in their 5m line allowed the Ugandans to steal the lead as the chasing Emma Ochan pounced on the mistake to get the first try which was successfully converted by Malcom Okello to give Uganda a 3-7 lead.

Pegged back by that costly error, Chipu showed impressive character as they bounced right back into the game when Mukoro drilled in another penalty to reduce the deficit to 6-7.

With around five minutes to go before the first half break, the Curtis Olago coached side managed to retake their lead as Felix Chacha singlehandedly took matters into his own hands as he powered his way past the Uganda defense to touch down Kenya's second try of the game which was not converted.

Uganda's flyhalf Okello however ensured that his side would go into the break trailing by only one point as he scored another penalty from his immaculate left boot to get the game to an 11-10 half time score.

In what was a closely fought first half, Kenya blew away the opposition in the second half as they added a ruthless touch in front of the opposition's tryline where they opened the scoring floodgates.

Just a minute upon resumption, Idd Ganguma scored Kenya's second try that was not converted to extend the defending champions' lead to 16-10.

Just before Ganguma landed his brace, Tony Oketch drilled in a penalty and converted Ganguma's second try of the game to open a sixteen point lead for the home side as the scores read 26-10.

From then onwards, a rampaging Kenya added 28 points off four converted tries compared to Uganda who only managed ten points that came from one converted try and a successful penalty

Breezing Namibia hammer Ivory Coast to book semis spot

In the end, Kenya proving just too much for the noisy neighbors as Uganda were knocked out of cup contention with the 54-20 scoreline.

With the victory, Kenya will now face Namibia in the semifinals as they look to defend their title on home soil.