Thousand Hills win to stay top of rugby league

Sunday Muhanga 0-28 ResilienceUR Grizzlies 0-15 ResilienceThousand Hills 8-6 Kigali Sharks Thousand Hills rugby club walked away with a win (8-6) over Kigali Sharks in their first ever home game in the National Rugby League at the Centre de Jeunes, Gatenga on Sunday afternoon. Kigali Sharks were unlucky to score only two out of five penalties through flanker Emmanuel Dushimimana, who took over kicking duties from Jean de Dieu Hakizimana who missed two early penalties. Thousand Hills responded through scrum-half Micheal Mugisha who scored a corner try after a five-metre scrum near Shark’s tryline. Fly half Carlos Simbi added a penalty in the second half to take the game. “It was a hard game, but we wanted a win, even if it didn’t come easy. We made some mistakes in the backline but the forwards were better. We won our line-outs and scrums. We are going to train harder, we have a lot to work on,” said Thousand Hills, captain Yvan Muhire. Sharks captain, Barnabas Ngizwenayo, said despite the loss, the side’s progress was encouraging following their first league 11-0 loss to Thousand Hills on Jan. 23. He said: “We were the better side even though we gave away that try. We are a young side, but we’re improving and in the future, anything is possible.” The win took Thousand Hills to the top of the Kigali league table with 13 points, four points ahead of defending champions, Remera Buffaloes whose game against Lion de Fer was postponed for the third time—it will be played this weekend. Sharks remain bottom of the table with 3 losing bonus points, Lion de Fer are third with 4 points. In the Southern Province league, Resilience got a walk-over (28-0) over hosts Muhanga, who failed to show up at the home ground before registering a 15-0 win over UR Grizzlies later in the day. Donatien Ufitimfura and Joel Mwakani crossed the try line with Frederick Ngamijumuremyi adding a conversion and penalty against the university side. “It’s five points for us, but we are not happy it had to go this way. I don’t believe we would have beaten Muhanga by this margin,” said Resilience captain and winger, Ufitimfura about the walk over. Resilience lead the table with 19 points, seven better than second-placed Kamonyi Pumas, UR Grizzlies are in third place with four points while winless Muhanga remain bottom with 3 losing points. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Thousand Hills win to stay top of rugby league