Barewa Rugby Club of Kano became back-to-back champions of Nigeria as they beat Cowrie Rugby Club in a pulsating Presidents' Cup final at the Mainbowl of National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Saturday.
Tries from Joshua Etim and Sani Muhammed helped the Nothern champions into a 13-0 lead, but Cowrie hit back through Jeremiah Peters unconverted try.
Both teams brought in their kicking game in a strong contest for teritory after which Joshua Etim dotted down in the 30th minute to put Barewa ahead.
Man of the match and Barewa captain; Nuhu Ibrahim created the second try after picking the ball from a loose ruck before releasing Sani Muhammed wide on the left for Barewa's Second try in the sixtieth minute.
Cowrie withouth their captain Onoru Jatto and wing man Christian Ogar then launched endless attacks on the Barewa defence, forcing their full back Gabriel John to make three try saving tackles deep inside the Barewa half.
Cowrie eventually made a try of their own when a quick penalty was taken and ball quickly moved wide left from Azeez Olanrewaju to Jeremiah to cross the whitewash and Barewa held on for their back to back win.
Cowrie dominate the scrum & breakdown
The Lagos league champions determined to add a the trophy to their cabinet decided to throw bodies into the ruck and they succeeded in halting Barewas' momentum.
For a long time, they dominated the scrum by pushing Barewa five to ten meters backwards most times and distrupted Barewa's line-out dominace for most part of the game.
Teams
Cowrie Rugby Club: Sunday Bassey; Elijah Johnson, Olatunde Sulaiman, Ikenna Mgboji, Obiyele Ajinde; Azeez Olanrewaju, Hassan Rilwan; Hassan Mohammed, Daniel John, Jeremiah Peters, Alfred Oche, Tokunbo Lambo, Azeez Ladipo,
Replacements: Chijioke Emmanuel for Tunde Sulaiman (40), Sodiq Oduola for Elijah Johnson (40), Emeka Iheanacho for Tokunbo Lambo (50), Isaac Sani for Ikenna Mgboji (60)
Barewa Rugby Club: Mohammed Umar; Ibrahim Suraju, Zarmai Daniel, Alex Richard, Shalom Matthew; Shamsudeen Aliyu, Jude Abrakson; Issa Omale, Nuhu Ibrahim, Sani Mohammed, Michael Gabriel, Joshua Etim, Akpabio Samuel, Gabriel John
Replacements: Bashir Usman for Michael Gabriel (56), Abdulkareem Zaraddem for Akpabio Samuel (72), Wisdom for Issa Omale (70).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF).Media contact:
Rugby@APO-opa.org
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