Nax Vegas Review.

It was a weekend where the Kenyan rugby faithful crammed themselves into the Nakuru Athletic club like they have always done around this time of the year for the last 21 years, to enjoy a shorter and faster version of the game, the ten a side. It promised to be two days of action packed rugby and all the joys that come with it and to this end, it did not disappoint one bit..from what I've heard so far.

We'll leave the 'joys' part within the confines of the rift town, and get to what was happened on the field of play. You know what they say, what happens in nax vegas...

Here are the collated results for the two days :

DAY 1 :
Nakuru 14 Multimedia 0.
Machine 5 Molo 0.
Strathmore 50 KCA 0.
Mwamba 24 Eldoret 5
Blak Blad 14 Quins 0
Homeboyz 14 Western Bulls 24
Nakuru 46 Molo 0
Machine 14 Mulitmedia 0
Strath 31 Eldoret 0
Mwamba 31 KCA 0
Quins 14 Egerton 12
KCB 5 Blak Blad 7
Homeboyz 40 USIU 0
Impala 12 Western Bulls 0
Molo 0 Multimedia 0
KCA 7 Eldoret 24
Blak Blad 10 Egerton 0
Western Bulls 17 USIU 0
Strathmore 33 Mwamba 0
Quins 10 KCB 7
Homeboyz 0 Impala 0
Nakuru 7 Machine 5

With the day 1 proceedings playing out as above, the men were separated from the boys although some of the 'men' were caught by the wave i.e KCB and Homeboyz. In Pool A was topped by the hosts Nakuru who won all of their pool fixtures, note that Nondies and the Rwanda side did not show up and hence were replaced by Multimedia University and Molo RFC. Second place went to Machine, MMU were third with Molo bottom.
Pool B saw the red hot Strathmore blaze through their games earning a bonus in all and not conceding a single point at the close of day 1, they were joined in the main cup quarters by Mwamba. Eldoret RFC and KCA dropped to the bowl in that order.
The only real surprise for me came in Pool C where Blakblad first got a walk over in the fixture against Quins as the Lunch bars arrived late, then edged out KCB 7-5 in their next game then beat Egerton to top the pool.Quins took the other quarter final spot after narrowly beating the bankers 10-7. KCB and Egerton were to play in the bowl competition.
Pool D also had a decent contest, where Impala topped winning two and drawing the other. That draw against Homeboyz condemned the djs to the bowl, The Western Bulls securing the other main cup slot after having beaten the djs earlier in the day. USIU joined Homeboyz in the Bowl.

Going into day two, four teams were unbeaten, they were Nakuru, Strathmore, Blak blad and Impala. Strathmore being the pick of the lot as I mentioned earlier they were still the proverbial virgins, as they had not conceded a single score. Day two would offer some interesting pairings as the two surprise packages Western Bulls and Blak blad faced off, a repeat of the Ngong road and university derbies then Kulabu facing the Wanyore all in the main cup quarters. Here is how the second day played out :
     
DAY 2:
Bowl Quarters.
KCA 5 Multi Media 0
Homeboyz 12 Egerton 10
KCB 10 USIU 7
Eldoret 5 Molo 3
Main Cup Quarter Finals.
Nakuru 14 Mwamba 5
Impala 17 Quins 7
Western Bulls 7 Blak Blad 0
Strathmore 7 Machine 0
Shield Semi Finals
Egerton 7 Multi Media 5
USIU 10 Molo 0
Bowl Semi Finals
Homeboyz 21 KCA 0
KCB 19 Egerton 5
Plate Semi Finals
Mwamba 5 Quins 0
Blak Bald 7 Machine 5
Main Cup Semi Finals
Menengai Oil Nakuru 21 Impala 19
Strathmore 22 Western Bulls 0
Shield Final
USIU 19 Egerton 10
Bowl Final
Homeboyz 7 KCB 5
Plate Final
Mwamba 7 Blak Blad 5
Main Cup Final
Strathmore Leos 12 Menengai Oil Nakuru 0


Finally, after three years of showing so much promise in this tournament..the students from the good university won the title without having to share it, and what a way to do it. They went through the whole tournament with their 'Points Against' column reading 0 they also scored the most points (155) over the two days, now that is what I call a combination of a resolute defense and a ruthless attack. 
Congratulations also to the Plate winners Kulabu although I am sure they would have prefered the main cup. Bowl winners Homeboyz who beat KCB to it, a win against the bankers is always something special for the djs. The Shield winners USIU, after finishing bottom of pool D with no point on the log they turned it around on day two just in time to win the Shield. Special mention to Blak Blad and Wesertn Bulls, not many expected them to reach that far.The Western bulls bowing out at the main cup semi to the eventual winners and blak blad narrowly losing to their much fancied opponents kulabu. 
As for Nakuru I guess talk of being unbeaten at home will cease, no? kwani 10's si rugby? sawa well you will have to add the phrase 'In the league' every time you say unbeaten, hehe. Finally a big shout to a group of people who I am sure worked their hairs out for their pores to see that this tournament ran smoothly, the organizers, it was a great tournament.

Now before guys left for Nakuru, there were several Kenya Cup matches that were to be played on good friday, only one was played. The Nondies vs Nakuru match was postponed to the 21st of April, no word was received from the Homeboyz vs Impala match but it did not kick off. Kisumu did not travel to Nairobi in a fixture that is bound to bring a lot of controversy at the end of the season.So that leaves KCB vs Machine as the only fixture that was honoured.."pole Cedo I have to do this hehehe"

At the lions den KCB II won a tight duel against Machine II 21-16 in the E.S.S after taking advantage of Machine's indiscipline. This match paved way for the Kenya Cup encounter, with no other match taking place both sides had a chance of improving on their respective positions on the log, KCB would move into second with a bonus win or with a victory margin greater than 6 points. Machine also needed to win with a bonus to tie with 7th placed Nondies on points. KCB wasted no time in grabbing the opportunity to move into second as Peter Mutai slotted in a penalty to give the lions an early 3-0 lead. Before eschuma could regroup Collins Kimani slipped through the machine defence line and grounded the ball in between the sticks, Mutai making it 10-0 from the conversion. It looked like it was going to be a long day for the students. KCB imposed themselves on the game with dominant forward play and fluid running by their backs machine were clearly being overwhelmed and had nowhere to hide. KCB would turn over the ball deep in their territory after a rare machine attack, Collins Kimani again doing the damage with a 70 metre dash to the line before offloading the ball to Brian Omondi who touched down at the corner to take the score to 15-0. KCB did not relent in their attack as they put together great plays against a fast fading machine. The pressure won them a penalty which they kicked for touch, winning the ensuing line out and Ian Indimuli grounding the ball from the resulting maul to make it 20-0 at half time.

The second half did not change Machine misfortunes as they were again on the receiving end of some decent attack plays from their hosts. The frustrations got the better of Machine as one of them saw red after what was deemed and rightly so as a dangerous tackle by center referee Godwin Karuga. KCB quickly made their numbers count with a Darwin Mukidza try to earn them the bonus point and make the scores 27-0 after Fabian Olando's successful conversion. KCB would continue dominating the game and fell short of extending their lead on several occasions after some great play mainly due to handling errors. The numbers were soon evened up when a KCB player was sent off for retaliation after a hard tackle. With the numbers on the field now equal, machine felt that they could put up a final charge as the game wore on. The eschuma started showing some signs of life, but it was KCB who would score first through Oliver Mugendi after a series of phases at the fowards, the scores now stood at 32-0. Machine finally got points on the board with the last play of the game making a converted try, after being largely anonymous through the game. Thus it ended 32-7.

With that KCB move into second, a point ahead of third placed Nakuru and 4 points behind leaders Quins, who they face this weekend.Machine remain 8th. My man of the match has to be Collins Kimani, the KCB no. 10 he had Machine's defense dancing to his tune, he ran at them and broke away at will, he was a constant threat on the ball, maybe it was the fact that he is not used to seeing a smaller guy on the opposite side, hehehe. Also worth the mention are Curtis Lilako, Brian Omodi, Fabian Olando and Oliver Mugendi for KCB. Machine really had little going for them but Musili (the opposite no.10) and one man Omulasu worked their socks off for the team.

With that ladies and gentlemen....do have a great week ahead and I hope you are looking forward to the weekend's Kenya Cup fixtures as I am..

KWISHA!!!!