This league is really living up to its tag as the most competitive in recent times, I won’t say ever as I haven’t been here that long. Here are the results from the Kenya Cup :
Mwamba 22 – 10 KCB
Nakuru 13 -0 Quins
Nondies 12 – 3 Machine
Impala 59 – 3 Kisumu
Strathmore 16 – 6 Homeboyz
Only Impala managed a bonus point this game week with that overwhelming win over Kisumu. The table now looks something like this, I’ll just do the overall points :
1. Mwamba – 19
2. Nakuru – 17
3. KCB – 17
4. Impala – 15
5. Strathmore – 14
6. Homeboyz – 9
7. Quins – 7
8. Nondies – 6
9. Kisumu – 6
10. Machine – 4
Nakuru are ahead of KCB on aggregate points, so is Nondies over Kisumu, the rest is quite straight forward.
We start from the bottom (no pun intended) at the ASK show grounds where Nondies continued their good start to the year with their first victory this season aganist Machine. The victory which sees them jump two places from 10th to 8th, came courtesy of their superiority in the forwards, though their two tries were grounded by Calvins Biko. A penalty by Mutuku acted as a mere consolation for a Machine side that did not go down without a fight.
At the Impala grounds, the hosts put in a dominant performance and made easy work of the visiting Kisumu putting 9 tries past them, Joel Omer and Anthony Nyandigisi each getting hat tricks either side of the break respectively. (So do they get the match ball?). The win as mentioned earlier earned them a bonus that now sees them only 2 points off 2nd place. In Nakuru, the Wanyore added to the misery of the defending champions with a dominating performance, a try from Nick Lango just the icing on the cake. Nakuru continue their impressive start to the season while Quins must think that they are in a bad dream.
In the Sunday fixture, Strathmore got back to winning ways against Homeboyz at the RFUEA grounds. The match which was slated for Saturday was postponed as the ground at Madaraka was deemed unplayable.
To my feature match, which did not disappoint one bit, and was exactly as it was built up to be…a cracker!
The curtain raiser ended in a 10-5 victory for the kulabu second string, signs of things to come?
Mwamba settled the quicker of the two, getting the better of the early exchanges, the black shirts playing with great intent. KCB yet to find their feet were forced into several errors and were being dominated in all departments, Mwamba would eventually make their dominance count with a try from Dennis Ombachi after the KCB full back Mathew Musita failed to deal with a high ball. KCB would start to look the part as they battled into Kulabu territory but couldn’t breach the defence, even with Mwamba down to 14, after a yellow card to Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua. The game remained a tight affair with the teams seeing almost the same of the ball, but Mwamba looking the more threatening in possession as the half drew to a close.
KCB started to look like more of the force they are at the start of the second half, pinning Mwamba inside their 40 yard line, this pressure led to a KCB penalty almost directly under the posts, but somehow Fabian Olando managed to drive it wide. The lions continued probing from the resultant 22-metre drop out, minutes later they won another penalty in the same area opting to go for touch this time round. They won the line out and drove the maul to the try line, Sebastien Shivoka grounding the ball, 5-5. KCB continued with the same momentum but a lack of concentration from their own clearance saw the kulabu full back dance through the KCB defence line and play in Injera who had the simple task of grounding the ball under the posts, Tito making it 12-5. KCB would not let the try deter them, their reply was almost immediate with a try at the corner from Phillip Wamae after quick hands from Curtis Lilako and Brian Omondi. Peter Mutai failing with the conversion 12-10, with barely over 20 minutes to go it was going to be a nail bitting end to the game. KCB would go for the winner the best way they knew how, big hits from Dennis Mwanja, Leslie Mango and Curtis Lilako bringing them closer to their goal. KCB’s tough luck coupled with Mwamba’s resolute defending came into play as they knocked the ball inside Kulabu’s 22. The black shirts picked it up from here keeping possession and earning a penalty just inside the lions half, Injera slotting it in to take the scores to 15-10. Mwamba were now in control, looking to kill the game off, and this they did with a try from that man Injera, this time combining with Humphrey Kayange to score under the posts, Oduk again with the conversion to end the game 22-10 to the black shirts.
The man of the match no doubt goes to Collins Injera his 12 points rounding up a great display from the winger, he was a constant thorn to KCB and did well in defence putting in several crunching tackles. Tall did well at 6, was towering in the line outs, Chris Asego also played a great game at 10. Kulabu’s win sees them reclaim first spot and become the omegas of KCB’s unbeaten run, it’s really shaping up to be quite the race, though with a long way to go.
In other news Machine’s Daniel Mubea did get new boots, thank you one and all..hehe!
With that Ladies and Gentlemen……have a splendid week ahead aaannnnndd…
KWISHA!!
