The Closing Day Review...The Season Ender!!

Quins in action at the Lion's Den

It has been 18 grueling weeks of top notch Rugby, first a big congratulations to all the players who made it through the whole season, week in week out and to those who succumbed to injury, here's wishing you a quick recovery, hope to see you back in action as soon as possible. Tip of the hat to the match officials, team officials, technical benches and K.R.U for making all this possible, despite the hiccups all is well that ends well right?

It was action galore in the final week of the league, as clubs sought to end the season on a high, maybe even win a trophy while at it. In the University league, Multimedia edged out Blak Blad II 9-6 to make it to the finals slated for next weekend, they face Egerton who beat Catholic uni. In the ESS Quins II confirmed their dominance after seeing off KCB II 20-10, here are the results from those leagues :

Quins II vs KCB II

University League Semi Final :
MultiMedia 12-9 BlakBlad II
Egerton 14-8 Catholic  

Eric Shirley Shield :
Impala II 24-12 Machine II
Nondies II 21-24 Western Bulls
Mwamba II 3-5 Homeboyz
Nakuru II 17-32 Strathmore II
Quins II 20-10 KCB II


Last weekend also marked a first in Kenya Rugby as Impala streamed their match against Machine live. We hope that other clubs pick this up, especially Kisumu hehe maybe next season I'll get to watch all the five games simultaneously. The Kenya Harlequins did their part in winning this year's title after beating KCB, the rest will be left to the union's appeal council as they hear Nakuru's appeal on the Nondies game. If Nakuru do win the appeal, they will be awarded the earlier docked points (2) then play against Nondies at the weekend. Quins who are currently 5 points ahead of the Wanyore will have to pray for a favour from an unlikely source in their old rivals Nondies, to win the title for the third year in a row.

The scores from the Kenya cup :

Impala 25 Machine 15
Nondies 29 Kisumu 0
Mwamba 13 Homeboyz 11
Nakuru 24 Strathmore 21
KCB 0 Quins 19

In the match that was played out live on the triple W, Impala ended their dismal season with a win, logging in at position 6 with a possibility of slipping further to 7th depending on the outcome of the Nondies game, this is the first time the red shirts have finished the outside the top three in a long while. Machine will be pleased with this season as they have put in some great results and though they have finished 9th above Kisumu they can build on this season's performances. Impala's game of the season has to be the win over Mwamba at home, it was a cracker of a match, unfortunately their season took a dip after that loss to Nondies. As for Machine who can forget the win over Nakuru?

The Total Kenya Nondies finished the season at seventh, though they could still play with Nakuru next weekend, if they do then they have a great chance of finishing 6th as they will get back the two points that were taken to bring them level with Impala on points, the latter with a better aggregate tally. The white shirts convincingly beat Kisumu in their 'season ender.' Kisumu on the other hand will be glad this season is finally over, they have truly gone through a baptism of fire. Let's hope they will put the lessons learned this season in good use come the next fortunately for them there will be no relegation this year as the kondele boys finish a distant 10th. The Nondies game of the season in my view was the 38-0 win over Impala, this win though it failed to spur the white shirts onto greater things. Kisumu has had some great performances at home but the one over Machine seems to stick.

The league pace setters Kulabu finished the season 5th, it will be remembered that the black shirts were confident of winning the title as early as the third week of the season. I guess the saying "Kutangulia bar...." would apply here or is it "The race is not only for the fast..". Anyway Mwamba ended their season on with a narrow win over Homeboyz, ensuring they finish a respective 5th. The Djs also had a great start to this campaign, but quickly faded away as the pressure of the league took a toll on them. The Djs finish the league 8th, which is commendable for the debutants though in all honesty they should have finished higher up the standings, Homeboyz have put in great performances all season but the results have just not been going their way. Memorable result for Mwamba, the 16-13 win over Quins a few weeks ago, no one gave them a chance. As for the DJs I know we are all in agreement when I say that their match of the season was the win against Quins early in the season, it announced their arrival in the league.

The Wanyore ensured that they finish the season as close to the title as possible, just in case they do get to play the Nondies game as I have mentioned earlier they might just win this season's title. They also had sweet revenge over Strathmore while at it. The students from the good university however ended the season an impressive fourth after staying in the title race till the final weeks of the season. The Leos have really come of age this time round and can now be counted with the big boys. Nakuru will be proud of their performance this season whether they get their match or not, as they have finally broke their 'no.4' jinx thanks to their perfect home record. If they can carry on this form into next season and improve on their travels they might just win next season's title. The XXVII crew have had great wins but the one over KCB stood out for me just for the shear resilience they put in to win it, though some may argue that it was the one over Nakuru in the first leg. Nakuru's home win over Quins, and over KCB tie it for me for their game of the season.

Action at the Lion's den

To my feature match, the title decider, we all know how it ended so lets not repeat ourselves. The lunch bar Quins ended their hosts home unbeaten record and did their part in winning their third title in a row. The game itself was a closely fought out affair as expected, the first half ended score less as both sides approached the game cautiously. Each side failing to score off the chances they got in that half the rain doing little to dampen the spirits and the game at the Lion's den. The lunch bar Quins came out in the second half with a new impetus, keeping the KCB defence line on the back foot. This early pressure paid off as Tony Mutai grounded the ball under the posts with Eden Agero successfully converting it to make the scores 7-0. KCB would make all attempts to get back in the game, falling short at each time their forwards doing great to gain yards but their backs failing to reward this efforts every time. Quins would quickly turn defence into attack after some great defending deep in their half to score off Les to make it 12-0 with close to twenty minutes left in the game. KCB who have come back from losing positions several times this season were looking to do it one more time. They again put together great plays at the forwards gaining great ground and winning a penalty from this, the resulting kick from Fabian Olando had sailed in to all but the two touch judges and since they were the ones who matter it never counted. Quins would take advantage of this gift from the officials to put the match beyond doubt with a Nick Baraza try and Sudi conversion to end the game at 19-0.

It was a great game of rugby with Quins the worthy winners, it was not KCB's day everything they tried just went wrong. Though the lions will feel hard done by that penalty call as it's scores like those that turn a game, but we'd never know now would we? Man of the match, Tony Mutai, he was immense at the break downs and did well to break up KCB's forward play other notable performances were by Les Libasia, Sydney Ashioya and Wilson K'opondo. Captain Curtis Lilako, Leslie Mango and Peter Mutai were the notable ones for KCB. Moment of the match was the 'battle of the Mutais' when Peter Mutai chased back a kicked ball deep into KCB territory with Tony hot on his heels, it looked like there was going to be only one outcome here as Tony had plenty of support with him while Peter only had Mathew Musita to look to. As we have seen from the diminutive half back time and again he makes up for what he misses in size with his bag of tricks, this time he sold a dummy to his name sake which the latter bought whole heatedly, then side stepped two oncoming defenders before he was finally cornered. Just had to mention that for the KCB fans who really had little to cheer about.

The league thus looks something like this :
1.Quins -  62
2. Nakuru -  57
3. KCB - 56
4. Strathmore - 50
5. Mwamba - 49
6. Impala - 39
7. Nondies - 37
8. Homeboyz - 33
9. Machine - 29
10. Kisumu - 18

Focus now shifts to the national teams, as they seek to defend the Elgon Cup, the squads that will make the journey should be announced in the course of the week. The first leg will be in Kampala on the 21st, locally we will have the University and Nation Wide finals at the RFUEA and probably the Nondies vs Nakuru match on the same date.

Finally, I know I forgot to mention the fans in my 'acknowledgements' up there, did you think maybe that I was saving the best for last? hehe three cheers to you guys for following your respective teams throughout the season and to a special few who you have probably seen on twitter updating you on the scores every week, here are the few I've interacted with, @kenyanrugbygal this Mnyore has never missed a home fixture despite the fact that she lives in Nairobi. @chriskanyoi a Kulabu player but now in South Afica pursuing his flying license, this one locks himself up in his room every Saturday to keep up with his beloved Mwamba. @Ochinot not as vocal as the two above, KCB backrow who like Chris finds himself in the diaspora but keeps up with the proceedings back home every weekend without fail. @smusyoka this social media guru and minister of rugby is a Kulabu guy but not all through, he is a Quins sympathizer and currently eyeing Strathmore. @s_shireve this very vocal DJ, holds the club close to heart, I remember during the mid week match against Machine which she missed due to work commitments, she sent me over 10 tweets in a minute asking me of the scores, my Kabambe 3G could not handle the pressure. @kenyarugby247 this guys are a one stop shop for everything Kenya rugby, so much so that they are mistaken for the union at most occassions. Then last but not least the ever reliable @michaelkwambo.. 

These are just a few of the notable fans, there are hundreds maybe thousands of you out there who make it to games every weekend..I salute y'all! If I were to pick a 'fans of the season' it will have to be the wanyore, if you have been to the NAC then you know what I mean..

As I leave, a big conratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Itela on their union at the weekend..

With that ladies and gentlemen......

KWISHA!!!