The two who will be looking to earn that title by close of day Sunday are the Lunch bar Quins and KCB. Quins lead the log on 98 points, KCB second on 92. The sevens season started in dominating form for Quins, winning the first two legs the Christie and the Dala, before KCB won the Prinsloo, Quins got back to winning ways this past weekend when they added the Kabeberi title to their collection. KCB's season started in consistent form, making it to the semi finals in the first two legs before winning the third as mentioned and losing in the final at Kabeberi. With the winner of this one bagging 22 points and the Runner up 19, third place with 17 and fourth on 15, KCB will be crowned champions if Quins fail to make it past the Main Cup Quarter finals and they do, Quins on the other hand just need to finish in the top 3 to guarantee a win no matter where KCB finish. You will agree though that this is the final that we are all looking forward to..
32 teams will be taking to the Mombasa Sports Club turf, the teams are divided into two tiers, each tier comprising of 16 teams. The top tier sides (Pool A-D) will be battling for the Main Cup title with the second tier (E-H) bruising it out for the Bowl. The pools are as follows:
Pool A
Quins
Mwamba
Kimathi
Mombasa
Pool B
KCB
Impala
Machine
Thika
Pool C
Homeboyz
Blak Blad
Comras
Western Bulls
Pool D
Nakuru
Strathmore
Stormers
Daystar
Pool E
Kenya Poly
Masaku
Molo
JKUAT Voi.
Pool F
Bungoma
Mount Kenya
USIU
Mombasa Poly
Pool G
Kimathi
Multimedia
Law School
Spartans
Pool H
Catholic
KCA
Nazarene
Pwani University College
I like the tier system as it spices things up, the pools are tighter that making for better games on Day 1 than they are in the 24 team system.
2012 Pepsi Kabeberi champions Quins headline Pool A as tournament top seeds, they are joined by former NSC champions Mwamba, Kimathi who replaced Kisumu and hosts Mombasa RFC. Kisumu miss the driftwood due to logistical reasons and thus finish on 53 points which currently sees them lie 6th on the log. Quins will begin their final charge to the title against Kimathi University then face hosts Mombasa before closing Day 1 against Mwamba. The black shirts will be playing for pride, they lie 7th on 52 points with no chance of defending their title. It will be the first time in a while that Kulabu go into the coastal city as spectators, in the recent past they usually go south as Champions already or in waiting.
KCB headline Pool B and will be doing battle against Impala, Machine and THika RFC. The bankers kick off against Machine then take on Thika before winding up against Impala. Machine who are yet to register points and lie 18th will know that this will be their last chance boat and will be coming out 'chumas blazing'. Impala have had a start stop campaign which sees them lie a distant 8th on 29 points, Impala started poorly at the Christies then picked it up at Dala before giving lukewarm performances in the last two legs. I guess lukewarm is better than cold, the red shirts will be looking to finish red hot. Interesting that Pool A and B are paired together meaning that the winner of Pool A meets the runner up in Pool B thus if one of Quins and KCB slip up we might have the ideal final before the actual final.
Pool C sees Kabeberi semi finalists Homeboyz pitted against Plate finalists BlakBlad, Comras and Western Bulls. The Djs begin Day 1 action against the Comras, they then play Western Bulls before finishing off against BlakBlad. It will be interesting to see whether Blakblad who are 9th on 21 points in the overall log, will keep up the form they displayed at the Kabeberi, same as the Homeboyz (5th on 53 points) who apart from a few hiccups (insert shoulder dance here..) have been pretty consistent through the four legs.
Pool D sees Nakuru, Kabeberi semi finalists come up against Plate winners Strathmore, Shield winners Stormers and Daystar. Nakuru kick off against Stormers then play Daystar before concluding Day 1 action against Strathmore in a replay of the Kabeberi Main cup Quarter final. Nakuru and Strathmore have had quite bumpy rides this season, Nakuru are 4th on 63 points just one behind Strath on 63, the wanyore started off quite dismally in Christies, were shaky in Dala but made it up with a main cup final appearance at Prinsloo, and semi at Kabeberi. Strathmore have so far made it to a main cup semi at Christie and Prinsloo, and also have a utensil collection (Bowl and Plate) from Dala and Kabeberi, the two will be out to finish strongly in Mombasa, as will every other team.
Pool E-H consists of tier 2 teams, which see USIU make their debut in this season's circuit in Pool F.
As mentioned earlier the top two teams in each tier 1 pool will play in the Main cup quater final, Pool A winner vs Pool B runner up, Pool C winner vs Pool D runner up and vice versa. Just like in Dala, the last two sides in the tier 2 pools will play in the Spear, with the last tier 1 teams joining the runners up in tier 2 pools in the Shield. The third place finishers in the tier 1 pools will face off with the tier 2 pool winners for the Bowl.
Alongside the battle for the title and positions on the log, the battle for top try and points scorer is also heating up, Leornard Mugaisi of the Homeboyz and Edwin Salamba of KCB are separated by two points on top of the Log, Mugaisi ammassing an impressive 104 points this far with Salamba doing 102. Impala's Vincent Mose is third on 94 points, Mwamba's Collins Injera who has not played in the last two legs is fourth on 85, testament to his impact on the black shirts. Dominic Mose of the Stormers is fifth on 81 points with KCB's Darwin Mukidza sixth on 79 points, Elphas Otieno (Kisumu), Ken Andola (Strathmore) and William Ambaka (Quins) round up the top 10 on 76,74 and 70 points respectively.
With that ladies and gentlemen....lets round up the sevens season in style...Mwambasa twaja....michezo tunayo hatuunaa???
KWISHA...Nimeruka Nje!!!!