What a way to start a year..Super Saturday lived up to the billing with the three top games going to the very end of the wire. The six teams taking points home despite only one producing an outright winner, the rest of the games in the top flight also producing interesting results.
We’ll get to that in a moment, first up the Chairman’s league Coast edition where the Spartans edged out the Shepherds 20-10 at Bamburi.
The Nationwide Eastern edition saw Oryx go down 26-0 to Mombasa SC at the UoN grounds, meaning that the MRC national side moves into second and are now tied with Kenya Poly and the Egerton Wasps on 18 points.
The other match that was to be played in the eastern conference between USIU and KCA was a no show and was thus postponed.
The Western Conference saw the match between Masinde Muliro and Moi University postponed with the highlight of this league being Kisii RFC’s surprise 15-10 win over Kakamega II .Siaya getting a walk over 24-0 result over Maseno university with Eldoret 29-11 winners over Bungoma. Those results mean Eldoret move to the summit of the league on 20 points a point ahead of Masinde Muliro (19), Kakamega II slipping to 3rd (16). Siaya’s walk over win sees them shoot from the bottom of the pile into 5thwith Kisii RFC’s impressive win rewarded by 4th spot (11).
The second tier ESS witnessed a low scoring weekend compared to the scores we have seen from this category thus far. The bottom three sides going into the game week all recording wins, though for two of those it was via walk overs, I don’t think they’ll care how those points came. Leaders Quins II saw off Impala II 24-3 to record their 7thstraight win this season, that winning run can be traced all the way back to last season. The cubs of KCB made to work hard for their 19-3 win over Strathmore’s Catulus, the result of the weekend though was Mwamba II’s 13-7 win over Nakuru II at the NAC, that win seeing the junior Kulabu peep the junior Wanyore to 4th in the log. Nondies II fell narrowly at the hands of Blad II 13-17, Kakamega and Kisumu getting walk overs against Machine II and Homeboyz II respectively.
After those results the top three are unchanged, with Quins II stretching their advantage at the top to 7 points over KCB II. Strathmore II (21), Mwamba II (19), Nakuru (18) Impala II (17), Nondies II (10), Kakamega (10), Machine II (9), Homeboyz II (9), Blakblad II (8) and Kisumu II (5) completing the pile in that order.
ESS
Kakamega 24-0 Machine II
Kisumu II 24-0 Homeboyz II
Blakblad II 17-13 Nondeis II
Nakuru II 13-7 Mwamba II
KCB II 19-3 Strathmore II
Quins II 24-3 Impala II
The top flight impressively saw the top 9 sides going into the game week all avoid defeat, like the other leagues above things were also tight here, with little or no movement on the log.
We begin from the furthest corner, in Kisumu Homeboyz scratched their way to their fourth win of the season, beating hosts Kisumu 36-27 in a rare high scoring match. From the score, you can tell the game was a cracker, with Kisumu coming to within a point of their visitors at 21-22, after having trailed 22-8 in the opening stages of the match, goes to show the fighting spirit in these Kondele boys. The win sees the Djs retain 6thplace on the logwith 19 points. The Kondele boys remain second from bottom, despite the score they earn nothing from this game, having scored only two tries.
In the western town of Kakamega where the Western Bulls hosted Machine, the Echulusi were made to work hard against the Eschuma especially in the second half, but eventually nicking it 16-10 at the end.
Despite the win, the bulls slip to 8th tied on 16 points with Nondies in 7th. Machine see the momentum they had gathered at the close of last year fade though not completely, after earning a losing bonus for going down with a margin of 7 points or less, Eschuma are now in 9th on 12 points.
We skip over to Kenyatta University where Blakblad suffered their 6th straight defeat, this time at the hands of Nondies at the blad bin. The red lions were in charge of proceedings for the entirity of the match, eventually running out 36-8 winners, the biggest winning margin of the game week. That win sees the red lion keep their little hopes of a semi final berth alive, though still in 7th position on 16 points. Blad’s campaign keeps getting worse, but they are picking up valuable lessons, they remain rooted to the foot of the table with still no points to show.
If I were to summarize the next three games in one word, I’d simply say..”Malaria”, the fans who made it to these three games were kept at the edge of their heart rates with end to end action and last gasp action.
In Nakuru, the hosts failed to win at the NAC for the first time in almost a year against a hard fighting Mwamba side, the two sharing the spoils in the end 15 all. The hosts took the lead through Martin Muita’s penalty before Mwamba got back through a penalty of their own. Nakuru continued to dominate proceedings though just, both sides failing to add to their tally, this was before Lawi Buyachi struck just before the break to make it 8-3.
The second half saw Nakuru start the more rampant side missing from the boot and having a try denied, with Mwamba also making head way into Nakuru territory, a yellow card to Kulabu however pipped the balance with Nakuru making it 15-3. The closing period of the match however belonged to the black shirts, two tries from Mike Agevi giving Mwamba a hard earned two points from this one.
The results sees Nakuru remain in second on 29 points, with Kulabu also unmoved in 5th on 21 points. It was the second time the Wanyore were drawing a match that they had led for a good chunk this season, the other being against Impala..a cause for concern maybe?
In what was billed as the biggest match of the weekend, though it did depend on who you asked, cross fence rivals Quins and Impala faced off at the RFUEA. Impala without a win in 6 coming into this one came up against the defending champions themselves win less in their last 3. It was bound to be a cracker, Impala welcomed back Vincent Mose for his first game of the season while Quins interestingly deployed Patrice Agunda at open flank, with Omuka and Muhanji playing at the centres .
It was the red shirts that drew first blood, through a Steve Juma converted try, but it was the hosts who took the lead into the break after Malcom Onsando and Dennis Muhanji crossed the line to make it 12-7.
It was the red shirts that drew first blood, through a Steve Juma converted try, but it was the hosts who took the lead into the break after Malcom Onsando and Dennis Muhanji crossed the line to make it 12-7.
The second half saw the quartered shirts pile up on that lead through Edwin Achayo to make it 17-7, before Impala exploded onto the scene. First it was Robert Aringo to make it 17-14 after Okowa’s conversion then Vincent Mose kicking off his season in style for Impala to take the lead at 19-17.
It was however a former Impala player in Brian Nyikuli (it also happened to have been his Birthday) that won it for the Quins with a last gasp try, giving the defending champions the perfect start to 2012. That win means they remain in fourth on 25 points having made valuable ground on the teams ahead being that they were the only side to win in the top 4. Impala’s woes keep piling though things are looking better, they did not win but the results are getting closer, getting back from 17-7 is commendable. They earn a bonus for losing with less than 7 points and are in 10th on 3 points. just as a side note in case you were wondering, Agunda had a complete blinder (that means he played absolutely great!) at #7, what I like to call rugby’s ‘free role’ position, will Cardo keep him there permanently or was it just tactical?
At the Lions den it was the top of the table clash with leaders KCB taking on third placed Strathmore Leos in what was an epic battle. Captain Andrew Amonde playing at outside centre for the first time in a while perhaps a clear indication from the hosts as to what their game plan was going to involve.
After missing the first penalty, Ken Andola gave the Leos a 3-0 lead that didn’t last more than 5 minutes as Bonab Were replied through his boot to tie it at 3 all. Benjamin Ojema who came on mid way through the first half made a strong claim for a starting berth with a try to unlock the stubborn Strathmore defence, Olando converting to make it 10-3. Andola narrowed that lead to 4 points going into the break via another penalty to make it 10-6.
Strathmore had seen little of the ball in that half, relying on their lethal counter attack play which saw them make 20 odd meters on each occasion. KCB on the other hand settled for a more direct mode of play, looking to make their physical advantage pay off. The status quo was upheld in the second half with KCB throwing everything at the Strath defence, the students doing well to hold their own. Fabian Olado stretched the Lions lead further from two penalties making it 16-6, before Strathmore started to turn the screw on their hosts. First a converted try from Motari to make it 16-13 then a penalty from Andola at the end to make it 16 all.
Both sides would feel that they could have won this one and rightly so as many chances went begging at both ends. The result means KCB remain top on 31 points and still maintain their two point advantage over Nakuru, while the Leos remain third on 28 points, with the gap between them and fourth having reduced to 3 points
KENYA CUP
Kisumu 27-36 Homeboyz
Western Bulls 16-10 Machine
BlakBlad 8-36 Nondies
Nakuru 15-15 Mwamba
Quins 22-19 Impala
KCB 16-16 Strathmore
Western Bulls 16-10 Machine
BlakBlad 8-36 Nondies
Nakuru 15-15 Mwamba
Quins 22-19 Impala
KCB 16-16 Strathmore
It wasn’t such a bad weekend for me in the predictions either..3.75 out of 6 is no joke, I was right in the Impala game up until the 79th minute that should count for something! The in house predictor TC also had a good one, showing that you can never go wrong with me…all he did was support me, apart from the Nakuru game where he decided to go with the hosts (hiyo aliangukia)
The next couple of weeks are going to come in thick hard and fast for the teams as we come into the home stretch the battle for the top four slots can only get hotter.
With that ladies and gents have a great week ahead aaaannnddd….
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!
