The cup winners in the three categories were crowned under the grey Nairobi sky at the RFUEA grounds this past Saturday.
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| Mwamba – 2013 Enterprise Cup Champions. (Photo – KRU) |
The JKUAT cougars became the first winners of the new Mwamba Cup II after beating Webuye RFC 19-7 in a hard fought final. The cougars scoring via Andrew Gathua, Israel Soi and Teddy Anyanga. Arnold Muriuki going over for Webuye’s only try which was converted by David Sikuku.
The first division of the Mwamba Cup saw the cubs of KCB win the trophy for the second year running after a nail biting 22-21 comeback win against the boks of Impala. It was the boks in red who took started the brighter of the two, charging to a 8-0 lead courtesy of a Brian Alukwe penalty and Samson Onsumu unconverted try. From this point it was Marlin Mulokwe’s show, the diminutive cubs scrum half who has already started been compared to the senior KCB number 9 Peter Mutai led his side’s comeback. First from a penalty to make it 8-3, before the boks stretched that lead to 11-3 from another Alukwe penalty. The boks were enjoying most of the possesion to this point and defended resolutely, they managed to go over the chalk again through Churchill Ooko to lead 16-3. Marlin Mulokwe gave his side hope going into the half picking up the ball from a ruck and darting through a stunned boks defence to touch down under the posts going on to convert to make it 16-10 at the break.
The second half saw the cubs explode off blocks, Collins Wanjala at wing causing all sorts of problems to the boks defence. This period of dominance was rewarded as they came to within a point of the boks at 16-15 after an Edwin Otieno try. The boks would again stretch their lead with Oliech going over for an unconverted try to make it 21-15. The cubs did not bulge, putting together phase after phase in the forwards with the likes of George Asin, but the boks still held on to that lead. With 5 minutes to go, the cubs were well inside the boks 22 pounding away for that try, like they had done over the 75 minutes with little success. It looked like the boks would hold on and withstand this pressure, but unfortunately the try came from an unlikely source. That man Marlin Mulokwe looked up from a ruck, spotted a gap and took it to score his second of the day under the posts making the conversion a formality to give the cubs the lead for the first time in the match at 22-21. With precious little time on the clock, the boks went all out, they were immediately in the cubs 22 from the kick off, making great ground but a pre mature drop goal from the fly half saw this efforts fly wide like the kick did. They were handed a life line by a lapse in concentration from the cubs who failed to properly take the resulting 22 drop out. This saw the red shirts with a scrum at the cubs 22, unfortunately they could not take advantage as they committed an infringement at the ruck handing the cubs the trophy as the final whistle sounded.
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| The 2013 Mwamba Cup Champions KCB Cubs – Photo -KRQ |
Man of the match predictably went to Marlin Mulokwe, scoring 17 points for his side and was clearly the difference between the two sides who were evenly matched in all departments. His management of the forwards was what won his side this trophy.
The big one was a cagey affair especially in the first half with the sides probably not wanting to be the first to blink. Mwamba put the only points of the half on the board through a Tito Oduk penalty. That half saw Nakuru maintain most of the possession, dominating in the forwards with Kulabu always looking to nullify whatever progress Nakuru made in the forwards with an effective territorial game.
The second half saw the introduction of Humphrey Kayange for the black shirts and Oscar Ouma for Nakuru at number 8 and 14 respectively. I cannot totally attribute the opening up of the game to the two but the game did get an injection of life in the second period. Mike Agevi stretched his side’s lead to eight points with an unconverted try after beautiful work from the backs. Taking advantage of the numbers after Nakuru’s Felix Oloo was sent to the bin.
Nakuru were gaining great territory in the forwards, forcing their opponents into several errors at the break down. Javin Muraya getting the first points for Nakuru from a massive penalty kick from close to 50 meters out to make it 8-3, Martin Muita would fail from a second penalty before Javin followed suit with an attempt from an almost similar distance that just fell short. The Wanyore were however not to be denied as they earned a penalty inside the Mwamba 22, opting to go for a scrum looking to exploit their dominance. They earned a second penalty on the take and obviously decided to go for another scrummage, again Mwamba failing to contain their opposite numbers at the scrum , leaving centre referee Bosco little choice but to award Nakuru a penalty try that was converted by Javin to give his side a two point lead at 10-8.
This score gave Nakuru the impetus, pinning the black shirts inside their 22, Lavin Asego’s trademark heaven scratchers impressively handled in most occasions by Javin at 15. There however was little the utility back and his counter parts could do about a particular territorial kick from the veteran fly half that found touch inside the Nakuru 22. You could see the smiles of satisfaction on the Mwamba forwards’ faces as they jogged up field for the line out. Nakuru would however inch their way back into the black shirt territory, this time however it was Dennis Ombachi who took the clearing duties in hand, sprinting almost half the length of the pitch to score under the posts, Lavin making no mistake from the conversion to make it 15-10.
Kulabu held on for the last 10 minutes of the game, despite added pressure from the wanyore, their defence weathered the storm to end a 7 year wait for Enterprise Cup glory and finally revenge that 2008 loss to Nakuru.
It wasn’t the spectacle final most had hoped for, it wasn’t a tactical match up, they just did all they had to then, to win. The muddy surface also didn’t help I can only imagine how much more it would have suffered had it rained. As far as entertainment went I think it kept most of us at the edge, mostly in the second half I’d pick this one over the one at Kasarani.
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| Ombachi on his way to score the winner. Photo – KRU |
Kulabu managed to capitalize on their opportunities better than Nakuru did and that is the reason that trophy is at the railway club right now.
Man of the Match went to Dennis Ombachi, who got over a shaky start to make his mark on the game especially in attack.
Whether these two will meet again for the Supremacy Cup is still unknown, but will be highly welcome, according to the union’s calendar we have 2 week break before the CAR sevens in Mombasa. (27-28th April)
Focus now shifts to the new look Bamburi Super Series that kicks off on the 4th of May, better start learning and internalizing those franchise names.
An update on the Touch a Heart campaign aimed at raising funds for Mama Lyle which managed to raise 31,232 Kshs over this weekend (Friday and Saturday), again thank you to all who contributed.
Finally a happy birthday to a man I’ll be featuring here soon, the mbaba himself aka chuma ya reli Tito Oduk of Mwamba RFC, you probably were done with the celebrations on Saturday, either way do enjoy!
With that ladies and gentlemen have a rewarding week ahead aaannnndddd…..
KWISHA…..Nimeruka Nje!!!
