The Championship Weekend.

This long weekend will bring the curtains down on three major tournaments namely the National 15’s games in Eldoret, the Chairman’s Cup and the Bamburi Rugby super series. A total of six finals and one third pace play off will be played during this weekend, specifically on Saturday. 

Let’s start with the schools games, the possible finalists will be from the following semi finalists, the semis will be played today:

Maseno School (Nyanza) vs Mang’u High School (Central)

Kakamega High School (Western) vs Kangaru High School (Eastern)

Katch qualified top of Pool A with the Wazimba finishing second in the same pool, Mase were Pool B winners with Kangaru runners up. It is very interesting to see Kangaru in the semis, I remember a while back 6 or so years to be precise, the boys from eastern used to be the whooping boys in the tournament, constantly on the receiving end of score lines that look more like radio frequencies i.e 100-3, 105.5 oh 105-5, hehe they have truly come a long way. It is also interesting to note that the Nairobi's rugby power houses of Patch, Changez (not sure if they are a power house) and Saints missed out on this year’s edition with Upper Hill getting the ticket from the capital, again testament to how rugby has developed over the years. This was also the case In Rift valley where Nakuru High was beaten to the province’s ticket by Laiser Hill, renowned for its prowess in Basketball.

From the semi finalists, it looks like it’s going to be an explosive final..my money is on a Mang’u vs Kakamega High final. But again Maseno is no push over, Kangaru too having made it this far.

Still on School Rugby the Nairobi School beat Strathmore 29-11 to keep their 100% record in the Prescott cup going. (I should really look for Prescott updates more seriously hehehe)

In the Chairman’s Cup the following finals will take place on Saturday:

Shield Final:

Kenya Poly v Catholic uni. (UoN grounds K.O 10:00 am)

Bowl Final:

KCB v Blakblad (UoN grounds K.O 12:00)

Plate Final:

Chipu vs Strathmore (Impala K.O 10:00 am)

Main Cup Final:

Nakuru vs Quins (Impala, K.O 12:00)

It’s going to be an all University affair (yes si it’s called the Kenya Polytechnic College University…High School, Primary Day and Boarding school hehe!) in the Shield final, When Kenya Poly take on Catholic

University in the first of two games at the UoN. It’s going to be a close encounter this one, judging by their positions in the concluded universities league. Kenya Poly finished 3^rd on 32 points with Catho in 4^th on 29 points. Looking at that Kenya Poly will go into this one as slight favourites having beaten Catholic Uni 13-10 in a Uni league fixture.

In the Bowl, KCB will entertain Balkblad RFC in the second game at the UoN grounds, or will they? The Lions lost out to Blakblad the last time these two met in a rugby pitch, the blad narrow 7-5 winners, I say in a Rugby pitch because this was during the Nakuru 10s. This time maybe KCB will set the record straight in the longer version of the game. Blakblad should fancy their chances in this one seeing as the bulk of the KCB players will be turning out in the BRSS.

In the Plate, the National under 19 squad a.k.a Chipu RFC, will be facing Strathmore in the early kick off at the Impala grounds. The Chipu use this tournament as preparation for the U-19 tournament(s) later in the year and what a boost it will be for the young lads if they can pull off a win here. It is very commendable that they have made it this far against opponents with almost the same amount of experience as their age in some cases. The Chipu face a Strathmore side that saw off last year’s Champions Homeboyz in the semi. The XXVII crew (it’s been long since I used that title) will be looking to hand the teenagers a lesson or two on their way to claiming the plate, but they should be careful..watoto wa siku hizi ni wajuaji!

In the big one, the two sides that have been dominating this rugby season will meet up one more time with a trophy at stake, in what I call the brother hood final, seeing as the two make up the Rhinos franchise in the BRSS. Nakuru have been in amazing form in this tournament, confidently seeing off Impala in the semi to complete their journey to the final which included a win over their bogey side Machine at the UoN. The Wanyore will be looking to cap this form with their first trophy this season, the Chairman’s cup.

Quins have not been in bad form either, seeing off Mwamba in the semi, also claiming the scalps of the likes of Strathmore to book this final spot. Quins will be looking to add the Chairman’s trophy to the Kenya Cup and Eric Shirley Shields already won this season..yeah. It’s going to an epic final this one, no doubt. The last time these two met in the Kenya Cup Quins were..aahh you know what the score was, let’s hope that the Wanyore learnt something from that match and that they got rid of their Nairobi jitters, otherwise..

To the Biggest one, in the BRSS, no before we get to it, there will be a third place play off..here are those fixtures:

3^rd Place Play Off:

SDV Transami Cheetahs v Lions (RFUEA K.O 1:00pm)

Grand Finale:

UAP Rhinos v Dimension Data Rwenzori (RFUEA K.O 4:00pm)

The two games will be replays of games we have already witnessed, the 3^rd place play off was a Match Day 3 fixture while the Final was a Match day two fixture.

It is said that there are few painful moments in sports than losing in a semi final..as in most cases you get no recognition, I guess the most painful then is losing at the final. The two losing semi finalists will be looking to erase this pain with a win when they face off in the battle for third. The Lions who narrowly lost 20-19 to the Rhinos after they dominated play for most of the game, in a match that many agreed was the final before the final. The lions will probably want this consolation more than the Cheetahs who were outclassed by the Rwenzori 25-0 in the other semi. That being said, there is this little thing called revenge that will be in the minds of the Cheetahs, you will remember that the Lions beat them 24-15 when they last met. It should be a great encounter this one with both teams looking to redeem themselves at the earliest opportunity. 

In the biggest of them all, it will be an Elgon Cup replay of sorts when defending Champions the Rhinos host the side that ended their 16 match unbeaten run earlier in the tournament, the Rwenzori. The Ugandan franchise has already made history being the first Ugandan side to reach this stage in the 10 years that the super series has been in existence, after they beat the Cheetahs in Kampala as earlier mentioned. The Rwenzori managing to go a step further than they did last year when they lost out to the same opponents in the semi finals. The Rwenzori hold the bulk of the Ugandan internationals, and will be making their first trip to the capital in this year’s super series, they have so far played three of their four matches in Kampala, playing the other at the Mumias sports complex. As I’ve mentioned before the Rwenzori carry the bulk of their national team players and thus this trip will not be a daunting task, as they have very happy memories of the capital. The Rwenzori will also be buoyed by the fact that they saw off the Rhinos 17-15 in a match day 2 fixture played at the Kampala Rugby Club. The Rwenzori will be hoping for a repeat of that result which will see them become the first Ugandan side to lift the BRSS title.

The Rhinos will be appearing in their sixth final in a row, looking to bag their 5^th overall title and 4^th back to back title. The Rhinos who have had a pretty tough route to the final with scares in the Buffaloes match and most recently the semi against the Lions will be looking to end this year’s campaign on a solid footing and confirm themselves as the most successful side in BRSS history, if that was ever in doubt. The Rhinos will also be out to revenge that 17-15 loss earlier in the tournament on their way to the title. This one as mentioned earlier will be a replay of sorts of the Elgon cup seeing as both sides hold the bulk of their respective national side players, so expect this one to be a cracker of a final.

The draw for this year's Enterprise cup was released this week, with some exciting fixtures lined up, allow me to discuss that further in the next post. That post will also have a few of the rumours that have been going round, sijui oooh sevens mara ooohh the brss ooohh..ooohh. One thing though is that we have turned into a bunch of complainers...most with no solid solutions!

Finally on my ka birthday segwe..A happy birthday to this bro of mine, one Allan 'Kricksus' Omuka..do enjoy!

With that ladies and gentlemen Happy Madaraka day, now allow me to go back and read for my exams…..have a great long weekend ahead aaannnnnndddddd…..

KWISHA…nimeruka nje!!!