17/05/2017
By Macpherson Muyumba
Whatever your view point, the discussions of the recent past regarding the rise of Kitwe Playing Field (KPF) and the team’s determination to win the league title is no longer a moot point.
There is no witchcraft or nocturnal visits to juju men under the cover of darkness as other factors come into play in the push for rugby supremacy.
Now perched on top of the league on 22 points from five unbeaten wins, KPF beat Red Arrows 10-06 at the Spoilers Den last Saturday.
After years of playing the bridesmaid, KPF have been a disciplined and well coordinated lot in the recent past. The lads play as if rugby is all there is in their entire lives after breathing.
They only won promotion last year and still managed a third finish. Not bad for a team with a reputation of spoiling their opponent’s game plans without interruption in most cases.
We’ve seen plenty of great 15 teams over the years but this KPF outfit is another.
But I doubt there has ever been a better balanced 15 side than this KPF model. A mix of good hard-working, direct-running, ball-winning forwards, options of three or four excellent play makers, and outstanding finishers.
Experience, power, skill, pace and plenty of smart runs. Rugby is now a science; it’s either you study it or keep crying on the feet of referee Caution Chisenga.
They have gone from strength to strength under the safe pair of hands of Maybin Sinkala and Happy Chipili. Sinkala is also known as ‘Butcher’ for reasons unknown to this author.
From what I have seen of them, they are a well-bonded unit, who revel in each others’ company.
For all of those reasons, they have presented a very positive face for Zambian rugby, so take a bow.
Of the rest, Red Arrows, still basking a little too much in league glory and Arrows coach Mwamba Chishimba should by now know that rugby is not soccer.
Arrows are inclined to play the bully all the time, always seeming susceptible to playing past glory and this can ruin their well intended chances for a fifth bite at the cherry.
Arrows have been good for the most part but looked a bit aged on Saturday.
KPF continue to show real gas and trademark determination especially the moment their onrushing forwards outflank a disbelieving defence line.
KPF played well and most travelling teams don’t find peace in the Spoilers’ Den. If KPF can do that to Arrows and if they can keep winning through that degree of control; they will be hard to beat, no matter where they end up playing.
In this match, KPF were without four key players in flanker Terry Kayamba, lock Carlos Kanyama, prop Sam Tonga and fullback Chisenga Ngomalala who was writing exams at the Copperbelt University.
But a combination of the KPF effective attack, and their own resilience, saw them clinch a priceless win that has them poised.
The heat is on for league pride but the threats are multiple.
From the four games played so far, the Airmen have won three and lost one and pursue KPF on 16 points.
Green Eagles are third on 15 points followed by Diggers with 13 points on the fourth slot. Diggers dug out Eagles from the rubble to notch a 13-11 victory in Kabwe.
As the league intensifies, there is a perennial threat of injuries and there are a lot of reasons for the front runners to keep glancing over their shoulders.
And of course there are rugby followers who think that KPF will keep tossing their opponents this way and that way which seems quite absurd; they could spoil their own party should laxity creep in.
So we live with it….for now until mid league season maybe.
In Lusaka, Nkwazi smarting from a 23-08 drubbing at the hands of KPF used their set piece power and stifling defence to blunt the lethal Power House Lusaka attack.
With a 5-03 win over Ndola away two weeks ago and now a 17-05 loss at the hands of Nkwazi, Lusaka struggled in the match against policemen.
Maybe at least for now, their eighth place placing on the log is a fair reflection of where they’re at.
Nkwazi are a side that have to score a lot of points to win a game, and they will never stop trying to do that, which always makes them fun to watch. But going by their display against the previous match they lost to KPF, they are never safe because their defence can range from suspect to non-existent.
And in dreadful conditions that negated any attempts to play constructive rugby, Ndola beat Nchanga 22-09 in Chingola. Buffaloes had a narrow 11-09 win over Mufulira B whilst Konkola beat Roan 10-06 in Chililabombwe.
Kansanshi lost 8-12 to Chibuluma.
