The leagues' Game week 2 preview

With the various leagues kicking off last week, the stage is set for the second round of fixtures though some of the teams will be playing their first fixtures this weekend. 

The Chairman's league for instance, saw 5 of the 8 scheduled matches kick off, 4 of the games that were played were in the Universities edition the other being in the obviously in the Coast edition. The rest of the fixtures were postponed to later dates for various reasons. This week's matches are as follows:

Chairman’s League (Coast Edition)

Shepherds vs. Mombasa II (4pm Mombasa Sports Club)

Jkuat Voi vs. Pwani University (3pm Wundanyi Stadium)

Masaku vs. Mombasa Poly (3pm Machakos Club)

Kemu Nrb vs. Spartans 

University Edition

Nazarene vs. KEMU (4pm Catholic Uni)

Mt Kenya Uni vs. Thika (3pm TBC)

Comras vs. Catholic (3pm Kibiko High School)

Stormers vs. Kimathi Uni (3pm East Africa Uni Kitengela)

In the Coast edition, Mombasa II will look to carry on the great form they showed in game one where they saw off Spartans 50-0 when they come up against a fresh Shepherds side whose match against Jkuat Voi was a no show. Spartans will look to bounce back from that beating last weekend when they face Kemu Nairobi campus.

In the Universities edition Nazarene who narrowly lost to Daystar last weekend will look to make amens for that defeat when they face KEMU at Catholic university. Their opponents in this one making a bright start to the season with a 24-0 win over MKU. The students from Mt. Kenya will be out to get back to winning ways when they face Thika, who also lost at the weekend but only just..going down 7-5 to Comras. The Comras invite early league leaders Catholic uni to Kibiko High school looking to win their second game, though Catholic, the only side who made a bonus at the weekend beating Stormers 20-3 will be buoyed going into this one. The Stormers had a rough start in their debut and will be looking to get their first win when they face Kimathi who had a rest weekend. 

In the Nation wide's same story can be told as only 4 of the scheduled matches went on to be played, 3 in the East side and one in the west...Lets hope the following fixtures will all be played out.

 Nationwide (Western)

Kakamega II vs. Bungoma (3pm Kakamega High)

Webuye vs. Moi Uni (3pm Webuye DEB)

Kisii vs. Masinde Muliro (3pm Egerton Uni Kisii Campus)

Siaya vs. Eldoret 3pm (Barding Sec School)

Nationwide (Eastern)

Jkuat vs. Kenya Polytechnic (3pm Jkuat JuJa)

Multimedia vs. KCA (3pm Catholic Uni Karen)

Egerton vs. USIU (3pm Egerton Njoro)

Kabarak vs. Mombasa (3pm Kabarak Nakuru)

Let's start in the West side (sounds cooler than west edition, right?) where Bungoma lead the log after winning the only game in this edition 24-0 against Webuye. Bungoma will look to build on that win when they visit Kakamega high to play Kakamega II. Webuye will definitely be out to bounce back when they host Moi university. Maseno will have two weeks of rest as their rest day falls on this weekend.

In the east side, where there was more action, USIU the early pace setters after walloping Kabarak 46-0 will be looking to keep this good form going when they travel to Njoro to face last seasons University champions Egerton in what is set to be a tough encounter. Egerton also registered a win on day one beating KCA 17-0. The college of accountancy students face Multimedia this weekend at the Ctholic uni grounds, Multimedia's match against Kenya poly was not played. Mombasa SC who had a rest weekend will kick off their campaign against Kabarak in Nakuru. Oryx will have their rest weekend, after losing 5-0 to JKUAT.

A bit concerned with all the postponed fixtures they are bound to clog up later and probably interfere with the calendar going forward. But this was the first week and most of this sides barely survive let alone have enough to make the trips to honour the fixtures, let's hope these leagues pick up as we move on.

To the Eric Shirley Shield:

ESS

Impala II vs. Kakamega RFC (2pm, Impala)

Nondescripts II vs. Mwamba II (2pm Jamhuri)

Homeboyz II vs. Strathmore II (KCB Ruaraka)

Mean Machine II vs. KCB II (2pm, UON)

Kisumu II vs. Nakuru II (2pm, Kisumu Polytechnic)

Blakblad II vs. Harlequins II (2pm, Kenyatta University)

The first week of the Eric Shirley shield saw big scores being recorded, Strathmore II beating Machine II 31-0, Nakuru II walloping Blakblad II 43-3 and the biggest margin of the weekend saw defending champions Quins II spank Kakamega 66-0. Other results saw Mwamba II edge out Homeboyz II 10-6 with Nondies II beating Impala II 14-5. This week's fixtures see the KCB cubs make their first outing this season when they face Machine II, Quins II will be looking to keep their high scoring momentum going when they visit the blad bin. 

The first week of the Kenya Cup went as expected, well mostly with the big guns Quins, Nakuru and Mwamba registering solid wins, Quins beating the Western Bulls 37-0, Nakuru beating Blad 36-11 and Mwamba steam rolling over the djs with a 43-8 score. The two tighter matches saw Nondies beat Impala 15-0 in the Chums memorial, this was the first time the red lions registered back to back wins over the gazelles in a long while. Strathmore managing to get one back over rivals Machine with a 27-3 win. 

This weekend's fixtures are as follows:

Kenya Cup

Impala vs. Western Bulls (4pm, Impala Club)

Nondescripts vs. Mwamba (4pm, Jamhuri)

Homeboyz vs. Strathmore (4pm, KCB Ruaraka)

Mean Machine vs. KCB (4pm , UON)

Kisumu vs. Nakuru (4pm, Kisumu Polytechnic)

Blakblad vs. Harlequins (4pm, Kenyatta University)

New comers Western Bulls play their second game at Ngong road in as many weeks, when they face Impala at the Impala grounds. The Echulusi gave a good account of themselves in their opening fixture against Quins though they failed to score, the general consensus after that match was these Bulls are no push over. They will be looking to correct the mistakes from the first match banking on the likes of Davis Chenge and Bram Shikanda to hand them their first win in the league. The bulls come up against an Impala side that also lost it's opening fixture, the gazelles welcome back the Singapore contingent and will be looking to them for inspiration. 

The inform Nondies welcome high flying starters Mwamba to the Jamuhuri grounds, the black shirts will head back to the ground that they beat Homeboyz at this past weekend. These two sides will be high on morale going into this one..Nondies a bit more as they have conjured more wins over the past weeks. Mwamba though look like a rejuvenated side judging by that Homeboyz match. One thing that worked for the black shirts was their back line, with Lavin Asego ingeniously playing at 13 with the impressive Kevin Atandi pulling the strings at 10..this coupled with the likes of Collins Injera and Dennis Ombachi on the wings supported by Sikuta was a devastating combination. How Nondies handles that quintet will be vital if they are going to make it two wins in two. Mwamba's technical bench also have a pile to deal with when it comes to the Nondies forwards..this one is nicely set up to be the epic battle between brute and flair.

The Homeboyz will have a chance to bounce back from that heavy loss at the hands of Mwamba when they 'host' Strathmore at the ruaraka grounds. The XXVII crew coming into this one off that vital victory over Machine will look to keep the momentum going when they come up against the Djs. In that loss to Kulabu I felt that the Homeboyz failed to impose themselves on the game, they saw very little of the ball and when they did have it, they seemed to lack ideas or lose it far too easily. I bet they would have worked on that over the week and will be looking to put in an improved performance against Strath. Last time these two met at Ruaraka Homeboyz were 28-22 winners..

After that bitter derby loss, Machine welcome KCB to the UoN grounds for their second home game in a row. This will be KCB's first game of the season and they will be looking to make a strong start as they look to close the gap from the top. Machine will be out to wipe away memories of that loss to Strathmore by winning this fixture and getting back into the thick of things. The last time these two met at this ground, KCB were 29-20 winners in what was a hard fought match, I expect the same come Saturday..

Kisumu welcome Nakuru to the Kisumu polytechnic for their first match of the 2012-13 season, Nakuru who lie second on the log after the first round of games will be upbeat as they make the journey north. This however will probably be clouded by memories of the last time they made this trip for a Kenya Cup fixture as they did lose to the hosts. This will be the first time Kisumu will be playing since Okwaro's demise and you bet it's going to be an emotional affair with the Kondele boys giving it their all. Nakuru should be wary of this, as they will be up against a Kisumu side that turns up at home but this time playing with an inner drive.

Opening fixtures don't get tougher than this, after the trip to Nakuru, come back kids Blak blad now host defending champions Quins. This will be the first time since 2002 that the blad bin is hosting a Kenya cup fixture so expect a real welcome from the students there. Blad gave a good showing at Nakuru eventually losing out 36-11 they will be looking to build on the positives from that one when they come up against their revered opponents. Quins on the other hand will be confident coming into this one, though they did get tested in that Western Bulls game they did come out on top and will be looking to do the same here.

 As I mentioned earlier, the Impala squad that played in the Singapore Cricket Club International Sevens is back in the country after what was a poor showing in Singapore. The red shirts lost all their pool games 7-31, 0-21 and 14-36 to Rugby Ecoose, SunnyBank and SG/HK barbars respectively. This saw them drop to the Bowl  where they lost 20-5 to the Swedish Vikings in the Final.  

This weekend also sees the annual Makerere 10's being played across the border, this year's edition though will not see the usual contingent from Kenya make it's way to the 'graveyard' (ignore the poster) as most teams are held up with league fixtures, but I understand the Comras or is it the Stormers or both will be making the trip...all the best to them.

With that ladies and gents..Enjoy the weekend ahead aaannnndddd......

KWISHA...Nimeruka Nje!!!