Ghana has advanced to the final with a 26- 6 win in an extremely physical game at the University of Ghana, Mensah Sarbah field.
The host, Ghana started on a front foot but the debutants, Kenya responded with a robust defense.
Ghana kept knocking and Bless John Mensah opened the scoring with the first try in the 12th minute.
Kenya responded 8 minutes later with a Brain Mutua try.
The first half ended in a stalemate ( 6-6) after Ghana missed several opportunities to restore their lead.
The Leopards bounced in the second half with 2 quick tries from Emmanuel Acheampong making it 18-6 after 62 minutes.
Kenya had no answers to the Leopards and Chris Dagaama added two tries later in the game to make it 26-6.
Speaking to the media after the game, Ghana’s coach, Andy Gilvary, gave his assessment of the game.
“It was a very tough game. It was very tough. I think with Kenya, we didn’t know what they were going to be like. We had not seen them play before but after looking at some of their videos I knew that they were going to be good at passing. They had good core skills, they’d run very quickly. So we knew we had to defend,” he told the press.
He also said that he was satisfied with his team’s response after the first half.
“First half was very difficult. We only completed 50% of our set. So the message to the boys at halftime was, we’ve got to get a little bit slicker, a little bit cleaner. I just made sure we made our tackles and that’s what they did. I was very, very pleased with the second half,” Coach Gilvary added.
The Leopards will take on defending Champions Nigeria who thrashed Cameroon 36-2 on Saturday for the final.
Coach Andy believes that the final game against Nigeria will be tough, but says that his team will be ready to put themselves on the line.
Regardless of the outcome of the final, Ghana will be in South Africa for the 2025 World Cup qualifiers.
Ghana: 26 (20)
Tries: Bless John, Emmanuel Acheampong (2), Chris Dagama (2).
Conversion: (6)
Chris Dagama 3
Squad: William Pearce Biney, Chris da Gama, David Nartey, Emmanuel Acheampong, Riddick Alibah Abrokwa, Jordan Annan, Geotrah Desmond, Collins Ofosu, Nigel Sackey, Bawah Bright, Yakubu Suleman, John Bless Mensah, Philip Asomani, Jonathan Adotey, Jonas Moorkaar, Oliver Puman, Sean Sabutey (Glebe Dirty Reds, Levi Osei, Isaac Akuoko.
Kenya:6
Try: Brain Mutua
Conversion: Shabani Hamed
