Lenana Mean Maroon 1st XV 1978

As we shall see later, 1978 had many similarities to 1983. !978 was the year after Lenana had lifted the Eric Shirley shield in 1977 and 1983 was the year after Lenana had won the Prescott cup unbeaten in 1982.

In both cases the side still had a substantial number of the star players but the key players in critical departments had departed leaving behind boots that were too large for less experienced players to quickly fit into.

Although I was in first form I still remember that we had 6 regular players in the first XV who came from our house. They would all leave the house together for a game, their boots making considerable noise on the corridor as they walked out. They included Eric Ayodo and Ganesse whom I have already mentioned as well as Willy Angawa (wing forward) and Thairu (A very fast winger who was built like a tank with his neck hardly visible. The advantage he had was that desperate high neck tackles just didn’t work with him). Unfortunately I can’t remember the other two.

Evans Vitisia is a prominent banker these days and was a member
of the 1978 side

Other notable players on that side were Evans Vitisia (hooker and main kicker for the side) Jimmy Owino (no relation to Jimmy Green) who played at full back but hardly ever kicked for touch. There was also a mzungu guy from Lugard house called Davies who was a very good prop forward.

My two favourites on that side were Eric Ayodo and Jimmy Owino. Interestingly I later met Jimmy Owino (now deceased) in Kisumu (around 1985) when he was down and out after serving a short prison stint. I really felt sad looking at him then. Somebody whom I had really idolized reduced to nothing. Jimmy was also head of house Speke and he was the most daring Full back I have ever had the opportunity to watch. He would catch a high ball in his own 25 and right next to the try line and then he would calmly swing around the posts a few times before suddenly letting go and hurtling in a very unexpected direction gaining considerable ground in a devastating counter attack for Lenana. It always worked and he hardly believed in kicking for touch. When things got too tight he would do an up and under to gain ground. This made him such a joy to watch even during a boring match that Lenana was losing.

I have already talked about Eric Ayodo’s devastating side-steps and crash tackles in an earlier post. It was also interesting the amount of Vaseline that Eric would apply to his thighs. It made him extremely slippery in the early stages of the game and probably difficult to tackle. Eric is a serious golfer these days and I see his picture in the newspapers all the time.

In those early days when I was just learning the game I hardly took notice of the forwards. Sadly this has always been a problem at Changes. Most schoolboys eager to see sheer speed and side-steps have never really realized the importance of forwards in the XVs game. In my few travels to other corners of the world to play rugby I have even seen a sevens side run rings round another side with very fast runners by simply denying them possession. You can’t run without the ball can you?

Still in retrospect I can say that the 1978 side had a devastating front row. There was Evans Vitisia, Davies and I can’t remember who the other guy was. The way they would go down on a scrum down, you would literally feel the ground under you tremble as they made impact. Many weaker opponents quickly lost appetite for the game after a few scrum downs.

That was the first Lenana XV I saw. In retrospect it was not a bad side. The usual flair was there and they were entertaining to watch. But I have a feeling that they failed to retain the Eric Shirley shield because they lacked the depth and weight in the pack which they had the previous year.

From that side Eric’s kicking greatly inspired me to later become a pretty useful kicker myself for both touch and goal. Many years later we played on the same Impala side with him. He was by then a mere shadow of his old self and I was just knocking on the door to play for Kenya. Still I had great respect for EO even then.

Post 1: What this blog is all about
Post 2: I was laughed at on my first day in Lenana
Post 3: Eric Ayodo's side step
Post 4: Lenana Mean Maroon 1st XV 1978