Las Vegas and Kenya Cup Game week 10, The review.

Okoombee...

Habari yenu..ooohh ni muzurii…good! I know y’all have missed me, I can see it..no? Okay then for those who noticed that I did not do the preview last week, apologies as I was really caught up.

Onto what was a fabulous weekend of rugby, actually it depends on where your loyalties lie, but am looking at the broader picture. Let’s start from where most of our loyalties are in agreement, the sevens. A super performance from the mboys over the three days earning them the Plate trophy, in vegas baby. Here are the collated results :

         1.       Kenya 17 – 14 Scotland

         2.       Kenya 38 – 0 Brazil

         3.       Kenya 7 - 7 England

         4.       Kenya  14–19 Samoa (Main Cup Quarters)

         5.       Kenya 22 – 14 Wales (Plate Semi)

         6.       Kenya 21 – 7 Argentina  (Plate Final)

    Kenya = Plate Winners!

This is what it took to stop the chu chu train!!

The mboys picked up right from where they left off in Wellington, this time they left nothing to chance as they guaranteed their place in the main cup quarters by game 2. I still can’t decide which match was a better spectacle between Scotland and England. We defended greatly in both and were very effective going forward. As you figure that one out, Samoa were really lucky to get one over us, this was basically down to the little edge they had over  us, they went on to win the Main cup by the way. After this, the mboys picked themselves up to see off a spirited Welsh side that had at one point looked like beating us, key word being like. This set up a final against Argentina who had dismissed England earlier in the semi. The South Americans looked like spoiling the party as they took the early lead, but Mojo’s (Mitch Ochola) charges quickly regrouped to put away any threats of a defeat. With this victory the mboys popped the champagne and held aloft the Plate trophy. If I were to summarize this leg and Wellington in a few words then they’d be, ‘patient attack and an organized defence.’ I know it looks obvious but these two qualities are what got us there, and with players like Humphrey Kayange, Collins Injera and Oscar Ouma at your disposal little can go wrong.

Moseti vs Argentina

 Picking one player over the two legs would be a tough task and rather unfair, as they all played their hearts and socks off, and played as a unit. Even when a change was made, you couldn’t see much of a difference in the whole set up. But if a gun was held to my head so that I pick one player, it would definitely be the tall guy in luminous green and yellow boots, yes that one Humphrey Kayange.I don’t think that I have to justify my pick really. This should be his last outing for the sevens before he finally goes to Bristol (he has been going for some time now) and we will surely miss his services if and when he goes.

The luminous booted man in action!

The plate earns us 13 points and sees us catapult up the standings to 12^th on 26 points. We have earned a total of 21 points from the two legs. Next up is Hong Kong in March (23-25), now we won the Bowl in Wellington, the Plate in Vegas..baby. Applying the law of progression, we should win the Main cup will Hong kong, right?

Cheki, wacha niende..bye!

Game week 10 provided us with another set of interesting results, we are back to the Kenya cup for those who are still loading. The results :

Nondies 5 – 14 Nakuru

Impala 30 – 15 Homeboyz

Strathmore 19 – 13 Mwamba

Kisumu 6 – Quins 20

Machine 20 – 29 KCB   

The pick of the weekend had to be the top of the table clash between Strathmore and Mwamba. The students from the good university made no mistake in putting away the black shirts again, in the process completing the double over them. As you may recall, the good university had beaten kulabu in the corresponding fixture at the beginning of the season. A well deserved win as the XXVII crew who were in command through most of the game, kulabu were left chasing the game, unfortunately they did not manage to catch it. Ken Andola put in a MoTM (Man of The Match) performance fro strath, Tito Oduk was as always influential for the black shirts. With the league now getting into the second half, most would have not pictured Strath leading at this point and as I said before here, I would not bet against them being at the same spot come season’s end, they do have what it takes. Kulabu drop to second, two points behind strath.

In Kisumu, the now rejuvenated Quins kept their run of victories going with a bonus win over the kondele boys. It was good to see Jeff ‘Kanjo’ Ojwach among the try scorers for the defending champions as he is just coming back from a long layoff due to injury. The lunch bars are still 5^th seven points off the pace. If they are to defend their title, every game to them now should be like a cup final. Kisumu remain 9^th on 11 points, they can be proud of this performance as they managed to keep the score line respectable, the score also suggests that it was no easy victory for Quins.

At the Impala grounds, Homeboyz let a 12-10 half time lead slip to eventually go down 30-15 to their hosts. The result compounds the Djs’ miseries as they remain last in the log, Impala on the other hand return to winning ways and maintain 6^th position on 22 points. The back to back defeats to Quins and Machine have really hurt the gazelle’s title chances though they cannot be written off. This game starts a run of tough fixtures for the Homeboyz as they face KCB next then Quins after that. They got a total of 5 points in the same set of fixtures a repeat of the same will breathe new life into their campaign.

At the Jamuhuri grounds, Nondies took on Nakuru as both sides were looking to bounce back from defeat. It was hard fought contest but in the end Nakuru had what it took to see off their hosts, oh sorry that should read ‘us guys of nondies’ ran out of time. Nondies suffer their second defeat in as many games and remain 8^th on 12 points, Nakuru get back to winning ways and remain 4^th,still in touch with the leaders on 28 points.

Finally to the UoN grounds where the inform Machine hosted KCB, looking to add another ‘giant’ to their ‘done’ list. KCB who lost to Quins at the previous weekend did not want land on the losing side again. Machine showed little respect for their visitors as they raced to a 10-0 lead in the opening exchanges of the game. KCB would eventually get back in it and rally to a 19-17 half time lead. The lions would stretch their lead to 26-20 within the second half and eventually bringing it home at 29-20. This result sees the bankers tied on points with 2^nd placed Mwamba but with a less points aggregate they are 3^rd.Eschuma with another great performance especially from ‘toi’ who had a field day at 10, but they were unable to build on their early lead. They remain 7^th on 14 points. The man of the Match from this one was Oliver Mugendi from KCB.

Oliver receiving his tusker MotM trophy. 

Going into the return legs, the league is bound to get even more interesting as sides will be out to either seek revenge or confirm their dominance over their opponents. Here are results from the other leagues as received from the Union.

ESS

Western Bulls 15 Quins II 17

Machine II 3 KCB II 16

Homeboyz II 17 Impala II 23

Strathmore II 16 Mwamba II 6

Nondies II 6 Nakuru II 9

NationWide League West

Masinde Muliro 24 Kisumu II 0

Moi Uni 21 Maseno 7

Kisii 24 Webuye 0

Bungoma 24 Kakamega 0

Eldoret 24 Siaya 0

Nation Wide League East

Oryx 24 Spartans 0

Mombasa Poly 0 Mombasa rfc 79

Pwani Uni 7 Blakblad 38

JKUAT 8 KCA 12

Universities League

Catholic 19 Blakblad II 0

Nazarene 0 Kenya Poly 24

Daystar 24 Thika 0

Egerton 24 KEMU 0 Comras 15 Kimathi 25

Kabarak 13 Multimedia 24

Quins II kept their unbeaten run going, with a close victory over the Western Bulls, as the KCB cubs saw off 
Machine II.There were also wins for Impala II, Strath II and Nakuru II.

As I depart..hope y’all are watching my Wales go…also the French but mainly the Welsh. Hehe..

Had to sneak this one in..nina mingi!!

With that ladies and Gentlemen….have a great valentine's day for those lucky or unlucky enough to have one..aanndd..

  

KWISHA!!!