The Floodies Grand Finale Preview..

It has been two weeks of thrills and spills at the 31^st edition of the Impala floodlit tournament, two weeks that have boiled down to this weekend, the grand finale weekend. In the Club category an interesting battle that features the magic number 10, defending champions Machine who are also the most successful side in the tournament’s history with 9 titles face Nondies who have won the floodies title only twice before, the last time being in 2002.

This was Last year...

Before we get into the magic number 10 clash, there will be 3 other matches preceding this one. In the schools category, Lenana who are the most successful schools side with 5 titles to their name will come up against defending champions Mangu in the first game of the day. Mangu who have tasted floodies glory thrice before and twice in the last two editions will be looking to make it three in three as they look to catch up with rivals Nairobi School and Lenana in the trophy count. The Nairobi school are second in the all-time list with 4 titles to their name, Upper Hill have 2 titles, with St. Mary’s and Alliance having won 1 title each over category’s 16 year history. Lenana who dismissed Dagoretti 46-0 to get to this final will be the more comfortable of the two sides as Mangu had to grind it out against MFA eventually seeing off the military boys 8-5.

In the universities category, USIU come up against Machine II, USIU who impressively fought back from a 17-0 score line to beat Strathmore II 24-22 will be upbeat going into this one. Machine II on the other hand had to battle past a tough Kenya poly side 16-15 to book this date against USIU. This is bound to be a cracker of a match, with the two sides having a similar approach to plating the game.

The third match will be the Clubs third place play off between last week’s losing semifinalists Nakuru and hosts Impala. Impala who had started this one with a lot of promise with that win over Quins failed to get past Machine, falling at the death 17-15. The red shirts will be looking to put cheers back in their fans though I am sure the cheers from the ngong road derby are still fresh hehe. Seriously though, Impala will look to put their resurgence back on track ahead of the Kenya cup season as they face the Wanyore.

Nakuru on the other hand could not match up to the Nondies forward line eventually going down 28-10 meaning the Wanyore have to wait one more year to get a shot at that floodies final appearance. Nakuru have looked a pale shadow of the side that ran rings around teams last season though understandably seeing as they are missing a few key faces in there. They will however look to end this campaign on a high as they prepare for the Kenya cup season.

The 2002 champions (photo courtesy of Richard Njeru)

If you hadn’t figured it out in my intro above, the grande finale will be all about the number 10. Defending champions Machine will be going for their 10^th floodies title, while Nondies will be gunning for their first title in 10 years. As I have already mentioned their semifinal results above let’s remind ourselves of the quarter finals, Machine were solid 29-6 winners over rivals Strathmore in a game the eschuma dominated from whistle to buzzer, making their intentions known early on. Nondies on the other hand had to battle to the end in their encounter to see off KCB 21-18. In the semis the roles were reversed as it was Machine who stole the win at the death with Nondies earning a comfortable win. The two sides play very contrasting brands of the game. With the white shirts laying their foundation on their bulky forwards, opting for a more direct route to the line with the likes of ever green Derrick Wamalwa in the front row and Ben Nyambu in the back row who have been vital for Nondies. Machine opt for the flowing brand of rugby, with more agile and fast forwards coupled with a back line to match, the combination of George Mutuku and Evans Musili at 9 and 10 has been key for the students. 

These two sides share a lot of history, with great encounters over the years, but mostly it has been players who have been shared and their general direction has been from Machine to Nondies.

When the teams take to the pitch this Saturday, it will be the first time that Cedric Odera the immediate former Machine captain, will be up against his former mates. He will however have followed in the footsteps of a long list of former Machine players to move on to Nondies, most recently before him Fidel Sinei who has been instrumental in Nondies’ floodies charge playing at outside center. Before them the likes of Tito Okuku, who has served as chairman for both clubs, the now KRU commercial director Paul ‘Pablo’ Murunga, Shaka Kwach, Ken Aswani among a host of others, even current Nondies coach Kanyi Gitonga once turned up for the Eschuma. One of the few perhaps the only player to have moved in the opposite direction was Cliff Mukulu in 1977 (the year Machine was formed) who then went on to lead his Machine side to Kenya cup glory in the same year with a famous victory over Nondies in the semifinals.

Enough with the history lesson, it is bound to be a great final, two sides who have a rich history will have a chance to right another chapter in their respective books. Interestingly, Nondies Coach Kanyi Gitonga featured in the Nondies side that won the floodies title in 2002, will he be able to steer his side to victory from the sidelines. Or will Machine’s  after dark mojo come good once again, as I have said before Machine relish playing in this tournament..so who will go on to win the battle of the magic number 10?!

Also this Saturday, the finals of the Community rugby 10 A-side tournament the “Mashujaa Cup” will be played at the Jamuhuri Park. The tournament which offers an avenue for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to grow their rugby talent, will see a total of 40 teams take part in U-10, U-12,U-14,U-16 and U-18 in both girls and boys categories. This year’s edition is sponsored by Car & General and Cummins Power generation to a tune of 2,000 USD. I hope the Nakuru kids are coming for this one..

In other happenings, the fixtures of the 2012-13 Kenya Cup season which is set to kick off on the 27^th of this month, have been released amid shouts from several quarters. You see this season we will have 12 teams from the 10 we had last season in the top flight with the addition of Western Bulls and Blakblad. Putting this in mind the union has reverted to the Kenya cup format used in the seventies, which is where most have raised issue. In this format, the teams are divided into two pools of 6, with each side playing against teams in the same pool home and away, at the end of the pool round the top two teams from the pools face each other in the semifinals, which will also be played on a home and away basis to finally produce two finalists who will do battle in the final. More on this later..  

Finally on a sad note, I end this post with my condolence message to Kisumu RFC and the larger rugby family after losing a great servant of the game, Andrew Okwaro who passed away yesterday (18-10-2012) my prayers are with his family and friends during this trying time..

 ”Swing low, Sweet Chariot, coming forth to carry me home..”  

With that ladies and Gents…..enjoy your weekend as you celebrate the holiday named after the sevens team...

KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!!