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.
Tries from Joshua Etim and Sani Muhammed helped the Northern 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 territory 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 without their captain Onoru Jatto and wing man Christian Ogar then launched endless attacks on the Barewa’s 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.
The Lagos league champions determined to add a trophy to their cabinet decided to throw bodies into the ruck and they succeeded in halting Barewa’s momentum.
For a long time, they dominated the scrum by pushing Barewa five to ten meters backwards most times and disrupted Barewa’s line-out dominance for most part of the game.
