Game week 13 Preview and the Mid Week Review

Salutations, another rugby packed weekend is upon us, but first lets us look at the mid week game between Quins and Strathmore. Quins took this one 17-3 to go top of the league for the first time this season. It was a close contest for most of the match before Quins found the final punch to see off their worthy opponents. The leos will rue their chances as Andola uncharacteristically missed 4 out of the 5 kicks he got at goal, that coupled with a knocked ball at the try line underlined a rather unlucky outing for the students of the good university. The two will square it off again this weekend, maybe the leos will look to rectify their short comings as they did give the Lunch bars a real run for their chocolates, hehehe. Away from the game,it was pretty interesting to see the students from the good university out chant and out number their hosts, well up until the second try was made. Maybe because it’s easier to duck a class than it is to duck from work, I don’t know. Quins have now reached the summit of the league, 2 points ahead of second placed Nakuru, we’ll look at the table shortly. In the past few seasons Quins have been very stubborn once they got to the top, if previous form is to go by then we might as well hand them the trophy and wait for Bamburi, but this as it has proved many times over is no ordinary season. 

With that result the table looks something very close to this :

The Kenya Cup Fixtures lined up are as follows :

Quins vs Strathmore

Nondies vs KCB

Mwamba vs Kisumu

Nakuru vs Impala

Machine vs Homeboyz

ESS

Quins II vs Strathmore II

Nondies II vs KCB II

Mwamba II vs Western Bulls

Nakuru II vs Impala II

Machine II vs Homeboyz II

Universitites League

Nazarene vs Daystar

Catholic vs Egerton

Kimathi vs Blak Blad II

KEMU vs Multimedia

Kenya Poly vs Comras

Thika vs Kabarak

The national leagues take a break to allow for the multiple missed matches to take place, they will resume on 10^th of March. It will be interesting to see whether Kenya Poly will honour their fixture in the uni league, with their strike and all.

The repeat of the mid week game should take place at the RFUEA, everything remaining constant, though Strath are the hosts. I say this because all playable grounds in Nairobi will be occupied, am assuming Mwamba will play Kisumu at Impala, anyway the venue will be announced in due time. The first match as I mentioned earlier was a tight affair, Strathmore were again very tactical in their play and surprisingly dominated Quins at the lineouts throughout the match, they were also very quick at the rucks especially at the turnover balls, it got them out of jail a few times. They will fancy their chances to revenge that defeat come tomorrow if they can avoid the few handling errors, which were basically down to the weather anyway and tweak a few glitches that they had here and there. Quins just need to keep their heads and be as efficient as they were infront of the line and they will stand a chance of completing the double over the XXVII crew. This will again be another cracker of a match… 

The lions clash again, the red one taking on the green one, this time at the Jamuhuri grounds. It will be remembered the last time these two met the green one left the red one licking its wounds after a 25-15 defeat. Nondies (the red one) are on a roll after beating Mwamba and most recently Impala, emphatically. They will hope this run continues and that they get one over KCB (the green one). KCB come into this game from a shaky two games, the narrow win over Homeboyz and the defeat to Strathmore, they’ll look to correct the mistakes from these two and do the double over ‘us guys of Nondies’ to get them back into the thick of the title race. As usual this one will be a titanic battle of the forwards.

Kulabu have had a rough two weekends losing to Nondies and Nakuru, and could not have hoped for a better fixture than Kisumu, no disrespect to the Kondele boys. Mwamba are now 9 points off the top and will look to use this game against the team they saw off 64-8 to make up ground. The Kondele boys have put in promising performances since then, and will fancy their chances of at least making the score line a bit more respectable. The Kisumu outfit are major under dogs going into this one, but hey miracles do happen. The venue of this one will also be announced in due time.

Nakuru with probably the shortest stint at the summit of the league will look to get back there as fast as they dropped out, when they host Impala at their fortress the Nakuru Athletic Club. The Wanyore still have their 100% home record intact, Impala will be looking to taint this. The gazelles have had mixed fortunes over the last few weekends, beating Strathmore then getting thumped by Nondies, they’ll be hoping to erase the memories of that defeat by claiming the Wanyore’s record. Nakuru at home are almost unplayable and Impala will have to bring their A1 game to dent that record, they do have what it takes to get the job done. What with two former Wanyore in their ranks I figure that they are bound to have some inside information on how to slay this dragon. The last time these two met, Nakuru won 22-18, will they be able to complete the double? We wait and see….Another sumptuous feast for the eyes this one should be.

As it has been my norm, I finish with my feature match which will be Machine playing host to the bottom side Homeboyz. These two are meeting for the first time this season as their first fixture coincided with the university games. They have had contrasting seasons this far, Homeboyz on one hand started their campaign on a roll, famously claimimg the scalps of the lunch bars but have since faded away and now lie at the bottom. Eschuma on the other hand started off slowly and have got better especially after the turn of the year, notably beating Nakuru, they have put in great performances even when they have gone down. The Djs will be again looking for the win that will spark their season back to life especially as we are getting to the business end of the league. Eschuma come into this one fresh from their win against Kisumu and will look to build on this as they have a chance to climb up the table depending on the Nondies game. I don’t think I have to mention the DJs last outing, so am saving them the agony of reading it again, a better way of erasing that memory would be a win here. This is bound to be a great running game of rugby, I plan on enjoying it fully!

The dates for the 10^th edition of the Bamburi Super series have been revised, the tournament will instead run from the 5^th of May to the 2^nd of June. This is to clear the calendar for the much anticipated tour of the English counties. This was revealed during the official launch of the tournament by the title sponsors Bamburi who have forked out 12M Kshs towards the tournament. Other than that the format remains the same as I had mentioned earlier, the only other change being that if a Ugandan franchise does make it to the semi this time, then that semi final will be staged in Kampala. 

The union’s AGM is slated for the 28^th of March, and the following posts will be up for election : Two directors, the Vice chair, the treasurer and Secretary. So expect campaigns and siasa to kick off right about now…

With that Ladies and Gentlemen……..

KWISHA!!!