Kabras RFC left it late to stun a spirited Nakuru RFC side 33-26 in an exciting encounter for the Rai cup, under the scorching sun at the dusty NAC grounds, on Kenya cup match Day 10.
Despite missing some of their more notable players it was the hosts that started this encounter on the front foot. The Wanyore kicked off without Lawrence Buyachi, Kelvin Omiyo, Calvin Otieno and Martin Mwita who due to club suspensions.
In their place, Martin Owilla started at 8, Dennis Ombachi (not that one) partnered Leslie Ochieng in midfield, with Safari Kazungu slotting in at full back, the little known Henry Ayah starting at fly half. Mike Okombe finally making his long awaited comeback to the Nakuru starting line up.
Kabras had only one notable change, bringing in Martin Juma at fly half with Brian Tanga moving to the wing.
The encounter started at a frantic pace, with both sides leaving nothing to chance as they went on the prowl. The Wanyore forwards were at their dominant best, winning 1 scrum and line out against the head within the opening 15 minutes. It was then a matter of time before this advantage reflected on the score board.
A loose pass from Max Adaka saw Dennis Ombachi react fastest and gather up the ball to go over for a 5-0 lead. Nakuru were now on the ascendancy as they kept pounding at the Kabras defence. It was however Kabras who were next on the score board, Martin Juma who was exceptional from the boot all evening gave the sugar millers 3 points off a penalty.
Philip Kwame was on hand to burge over from the back of a Nakuru Maul, the ensuing conversion sailing wide to make the scores 10-3. Nakuru still had their tails up in this encounter, thwarting any Kabras attack and dominating in the set piece, it was however their penalty count that had started becoming a worry.
Juma was again on hand to kick over a penalty to make it 10-6, with the half time break getting closer. Nakuru had so far alternated between Henry Ayah and Leslie Ochieng for the kicking duties and it was Leslie who got the first points for Nakuru off the boot for a 13-6 half time score.
Nakuru were definitely the happier of the two going into the breather, they had dominated proceedings this far and very clinical in that half. From their 3 visits to the Kabras 22 they had scored twice. Their forwards had done a great job. Mike Okombe, Fromila Mulama and Martin Owilla were exceptional on the ground, disrupting Kabras ball at the rucks, though this did sometimes be over the confines of the law.
Kabras were still in this match up, all they had to do was level things at the forwards then bring in the likes of Jone Kubu, Nick Barasa and Fabian Olando who had had a silent 40 minutes.
The sugar millers came out of the break, like their hosts had in the start of the game. It looked like their forwards were reading from the same script I was, as they did well to neutralise Nakuru in that department. Nick Barasa, Olando and the Kabras backs were now seeing more of the ball.
They opted for a line out off a penalty at the ruck, Anthony Ogot gathered and set up the maul. The veteran then found himself at the back of the maul after several resets to ground the ball for a 13-11 score, Juma missing from the conversion. The hosts were on the charge immediately from the restart, Martin Owila would go over after some great phase play, Leslie adding the extras to make it 20-11.
What had so far been an exhilarating match had now gone into another gear, with Nakuru off to kill the game and Kabras sensing that they could turn around their fortunes here.
Henry Ayah would stretch his side’s lead from a drop goal to make it 23-11, Kabras were simply not giving up, Brian Tanga would finish off a sweeping move to score at the corner and make it 23-16. We were now in the last 15 minutes of the game, could Nakuru hold on to this lead?
It didn’t look like they would, just like they failed to get a hold of Jone Kubu. A Nakuru clearance kick went through a couple of hands before finding Jone Kubu around the half way line, what followed was a moment of absolute brilliance.
He jinked past the first line of defence before side stepping the covering player, he then turned a great line to wrong foot the Nakuru full back before releasing Edwin Achayo from five meters away from the line. Achayo went over, Juma converting to tie the game at 23 all.
Nkauru had so far wasted a couple of opportunities off the boot and were not about to keep that stat going when they won a penalty withing strike range. Leslie Ochieng would drill it between the sticks to make it 26-23.
It was now or never for Kabras, if they were to grab this win. Nakuru now seemed to run out of steam and were losing concentration in critical situations. Geoffrey Messo was on hand to punish the hosts off the back of a maul, Juma converting to make it 30-26. For the first time in this match, Nakuru found themselves trailing and had a little over 5 minutes to get back into the lead.
Nakuru went out from under the posts knowing that a try would seal this game for them, as Kabras lined up to receive the kick they must have had thoughts of putting this game beyond their opponents with a score of any kind.
Martin Juma was on hand to deliver these points from his boot after Nakuru had infringed at a ruck to make it 33-26. There was no time left on the sun screened centre referee Godwin Karuga, as he blew for full time. Kabras had avenged their earlier loss to Nakuru at the Kakamega Show grounds.
At the end of the day it was Kabras’ maturity that stole the day from a spirited Nakuru side, for their troubles they walked away with a 250K bounty and the newly formed Rai Cup. The sugar millers did well to turn around what had at some point looked like a lost cause for them. Martin Juma clearly had a point to prove and put in a great shift at fly half.
Despite that loss, Nakuru will be proud of their young charges, if there was anything like an honourable loss, this was it. The new faces in the squad did well in this match up, the likes of Ombachi and Ayah were exceptional standing toe to toe against their more experienced opponents.
These two are now separated by one point on the log, Nakuru in 7th courtesy of 31 points with Kabras on 30 in eighth. Other results saw KCB beat Thika 58-0 in the early kick off at the NAC. Quins were at some point trailing Nondies 10-0 before turning things around to claim a 35-21 result and remain second.
In probably their last game in the Kenya Cup, the Sharks failed to beat Blak Blad, falling 35-6 . Mwamba beat Western Bulls 36-10 at the bull ring to move into 6th spot. There were also wins for Strathmore and Impala against Mean Machine and Homeboyz respectively.
The review of the latter coming up in a few.
Collated Match Day 10 results :
Resolution Impala Saracens 32-29 Menengai Cream Homeboyz
Top Fry Nakuru 26-33 Kabras Sugar
Thika 0-58 KCB
Kenya Sharks 6-35 Blak Blad
Western Bulls 10-36 Mwamba
Kenya Harlequin 35-21 Nondescripts
Pan Africa Strathmore Leos 68-10 Mean Machine
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!
