2011 Safari Sevens


The 2011 Safari Sevens were the 16th annual edition of the Safari Sevens.

Tournament administration

Venue

After 15 years at the RFUEA Ground and growing attendances annually, the Kenya Rugby Football Union decided to take the tournament to the Nyayo National Stadium for the first time. Nyayo is a football and athletics stadium built in 1983 to host the 1987 All-Africa Games and has a capacity of 30,000; the 2010 African Athletics Championships were also held here. It is the headquarters for the Kenya Football Federation and Athletics Kenya. The rationale for the move was to allow room for more spectators as part of the KRU's bid to have the tournament included in the IRB Sevens World Series by 2015; it was reported that IRB observers were in the country to monitor the event.
There were some worries prior to the event about the move, the area is notorious for robbers who attack motorists and pedestrians and at least one murder has been recorded there two years ago. The Police put in place a security plan including road closures to ensure the tournament passed without incident. Parts of Langata Road and Aerodrome Road were closed to motorists apart from those bearing VIP stickers; parking and shuttle busses were also put in place for the fans between the stadium and Highway Secondary School, All Saints Primary School and Kenya Railways Sports Club. Security fears were vindicated after a woman was raped leaving the tournament. Other commentators have said that the area is no more dangerous than the surroundings of the RFUEA Ground and that the attack was partially a result of bad luck or poor judgement to decide to walk home rather than take a taxi or bus.

Dates

For the first time the tournament was held in early November, rather than the traditional June, in order to avoid clashes with other world class rugby events so that more prestigious teams could send sides to participate and thus further raise the prominence of the event in the world rugby calendar. The Rugby World Cup 2011 ended in October and the IRB Sevens World Series began two weeks later in late November. The hope is that the Safari Sevens will become a warm-up event to future IRB Sevens World Series.

Ticketing

Standard tickets cost KSh.300/= or KSh.400/= per day. VIP tickets were KSh.1,000/= or KSh.2,000/=.

Match officials

A strong panel of match officials blending experienced regulars from previous editions of the Safaricom Sevens with up and coming match officials from the region and overseas referees with international experience. Hong Kong's Lee Wing Yi Gabriel became the first top female referee to officiate at the Safari Sevens.
The 2011 tournament match officials

Men's tournament

Participating teams

Hosts Kenya, Uganda and Bristol University from the United Kingdom are the only sides to have played in this annual event since its inception in 1996.
The teams were as follows.

Teams unable to attend

Teams slated to attend but later withdrew included:
TeamNotes
Replaced by the Royal Welsh Warriors
False Bay, South Africa
Les Bleus Sevens is a non-profit organisation entirely independent of the FFR who also sponsor their own 7-a-side rugby team, Les Bleus, many of whom have gone on to play for the French National sevens side.
Cited security issues rather than a lack of funding for their decision to miss the tournament; Kenyan security forces had been engaged for three weeks in a military offensive inside neighboring Somalia after a series of terror attacks on Kenyan tourism targets. Mwamba RFC filled their berth.

Pool stages

Results form the pool stages.

Pool A

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
'26 - 7Universitaire de Grenoble
'24 - 0
0 - 36'
5 - 47Universitaire de Grenoble
'45 - 12
22 - 7

Pool B

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
28 - 24Auckland Vikings
17 - 21Mwamba RFC
12 - 19'
7 - 43Auckland Vikings
'24 - 14Mwamba RFC
46 - 0Bristol University Select

Pool C

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
'46 - 0Tiger Rugby
'29 - 0
0 - 80'
'33 - 0Tiger Rugby
40 - 10
14 - 14

''The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament. Spain and Samoa tied on points and their head to head result; Samoa won Pool C by virtue of the fact they scored a total of 140 points to Spain's 76.''

Pool D

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
'38 - 5Royal Welsh
'64 - 0
0 - 51'
'33 - 7Royal Welsh
12 - 0
10 - 24Samurai Sevens

Knockout stage

Results from the knockout stage.

Women's Tournament result

Round-robin stage

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
0 – 24'
'24 – 5
'29 – 0
'41 – 5
45 – 0
10 – 10

Knockout stage

Doreen Remour touched down for Kenya, which was converted by Irene Awino.

Men's Veteran Results

Pool stage

Pool 'A'

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Nondies Vets5 – 21Quins Vets
Quins Vets29 – 0KCB Vets
Nondies Vets36 – 0KCB Vets

Pool 'B'

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Les Gaulois5 – 15Pwani
Impala Vets7 – 10Pwani
Rogue Buffaloes17 – 0Les Gaulois
Impala Vets0 – 12Rogue Buffaloes
Rogue Buffaloes12 – 7Pwani
Impala Vets22 – 5Les Gaulois

Boys

Pools

Pool 'A'

Tanzania made history by putting together a national representative under-19 side for the event. Zimbabwe also sent a national representative side as they have done to several previous Safari Sevens tournaments. Uganda sent their school national champions Hana Mixed School.
All eight of the Kenya provinces were represented in the tournament.
Team 1ScoreTeam 2
12 – 24Rift Valley
Nyanza12 – 14Central
Rift Valley7 – 17Nairobi
7 – 34Nyanza
Nairobi5 – 5Central
Rift Valley0 – 36Nyanza
Nyanza17 – 0Nairobi
Central10 – 12
Central14 – 15Rift Valley
Nairobi46 – 0

Pool 'B'

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Western41 – 0Coast
Hana Mixed 31 – 0Eastern
Coast7 – 31'
Western12 – 14Hana Mixed
'22 – 0Eastern
Coast0 – 46Hana Mixed
Hana Mixed 21 – 7
Eastern0 – 46Western
Eastern27 – 10Coast
0 – 36Western

Girls

Group stage

Pool 'A'

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Mukumu–Comras
J.M.Kariuki–St. Martin
J.M.Kariuki–Comras
Mukumu–J.M Kariuki
Comras–St. Martin
Mukumu–St. Martin

Pool 'B'

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Butere–Hidden Talent
Hopewell–Mercy Care
Butere–Mercy Care
Hopewell–Hidden Talent
Butere–Hopewell
Hidden Talent–Mercy Care