It Is Cup Time!!

It is officially my favourite time of the season, where form and history count for nothing, where every game is a final, Ladies and gents its Cup time.

This season sees an extra division added to the Mwamba Cup, the second division will be contested between 16 teams over four rounds, the sides mainly drawn from the Western and Coast region with some from Nairobi. With no teams seeded here all the 16 sides will be in action this weekend as follows:

Mwamba Cup Division II

Moi University vs Webuye (Moi Uni. Eld, K.O 3pm)

Kakamega RFC vs Maseno RFC (Kakamega High, 4pm)

Masinde Muliro vs Siaya RFC (Kakmega High, 2pm)

Kisii RFC vs Bungoma RFC (Egerton Kisii, 3pm)

Pwani University vs Masaku (Pwani Uni. 3pm)

TUM vs Mombasa II (MSC, 2pm)

KCA vs Thika RFC (KCA Ruaraka, 3pm)

JKUAT vs KEMU Nairobi (JKUAT Juja, 3pm)

The top division of the Mwamba Cup sees the 12 sides that took part in the ESS joined by the finalists from the Nationwide and Chairman's leagues. Defending champions KCB II open their defence against recently crowned Nationwide champions Eldoret RFC at the Den, with last year's finalists Mombasa SC hosting Nondies II, here are the rest of those fixtures:

Mwamba Cup

KCB II vs Eldoret RFC (Ruaraka, 2pm)

Mombasa SC vs Nondies II (Mombasa SC, 4pm)

Blak Blad II vs Strathmore II (KU, 2pm)

Quins II vs Machine II (RFUEA, 2 pm)

Mwamba II vs Egerton (UoN, 2 pm)

Catholic vs Nakuru II (CUEA, 3pm)

Kisumu II vs TUK (Kisumu Poly, 4pm)

Daystar vs Impala II (Athi river, 3pm)

The oldest tournament in Kenya rugby, the Enterprise Cup makes a come back this year after the last edition stalled at the semi final stage due to a board room tag of war between clubs. The clubs have been seeded based on Kenya Cup performance with Nakuru being top seeds and Mwamba in fourth.

The four will not be in action as they already are in the Quarter finals and will know their opponents after this round of games.

This round sees Homeboyz take on Kisumu at the UoN grounds with the winner facing KCB in the quarter finals. The last time these two met in the league season, the Djs were 37-26 winners at the Kisumu Polytechnic. The Kondele boys don't have a great away record and will have their work cut out for them.

Impala will play hosts to Blak Blad at the Impala club with the winner here going onto face Mwamba in the Quarter finals. Impala recorded their first win of the season against Blad and will be looking to record another one here and progress into the Quarter finals. Blad closed the league season without a win, this Impala side beat them 55-14, they will have to be on their absolute best if they are to win here.

Nondies will host Mean Machine at the Red lion looking to meet Strathmore in the Quarter Final. The last time these two met, Nondies were narrow 15-11 winners. Nondies are the most succesful side in this tournament's history with 25 cups to their name. As they embark on number 26 they will be weary of a Machine side that gave them a real fight the last time they met.

The Last match will see the Lunch bar Quins face Western Bulls at the RFUEA, the winner here having to make the dreaded journey to 'Suguta Valley' to face the recently crowned Kenya Cup Champions, The Menengai Oil Nakuru RFC.

This was the opening fixture for the two in the league season, that time it ended 37-0 in favour of the hosts. Quins will hope for a repeat of the same result and have a go at the Kenya Cup champions, being the only side that beat them in the league season.

Enterprise Cup  

Homeboyz vs Kisumu (UoN, 4pm)

Impala vs Blak Blad (Impala, 4pm)

Nondies vs Mean Machine (Jamuhuri grounds, 4pm)

Lunch Bar Quins vs Western Bulls (RFUEA, 4pm)

Predictions for this round;

Homeboyz 42-15 Kisumu

Impala 50-10 Blak Blad

Nondies 21-15 Machine

Quins 40-13 Western Bulls

The draw for the Sevens World Cup to take place in Moscow, Russia later in June was done on Thursday. Kenya landed in Pool C alongside Samoa, Zimbabwe and Philippines, with the top teams from the six pools going through to the Cup Quarter finals joined by the two best runners up.

Still on the sevens, the drama keeps going, 2 weeks on with the union having terminated Collins Injera's contract with the sevens team for what they termed as gross misconduct.

Everyone seems to have an opinion but very few solutions are being thrown around, first Mwamba should have never gone to the extent of suspending players just to prove a point. Two the union should have not gone ahead and axed the chu chu train, it really doesn't solve anything just increases the temperatures unnecessarily. Now that this has already happened, raising issues that need to be sorted, what now?

First the stake holders have a meeting this Wednesday, I think and if I were setting the agenda this would be it:

1.      Who has the first right to a player? This question is what has brought us here in the first place. The clubs feel they have a moral 'ownership' of the player since they have natured them and handle them on a day to day basis. The Union on the other hand has contractual agreements with the national players and hence deem themselves as the one's with the first right to the player. Both sides have valid points as you see, one has to give.

2.      Set a specific and rigid time frame for player recuperation after national duty. Currently there is a hand book that is being refereed to and the IRB policies. We need to have our own time line so that everyone is in the clear. 

3.      Create channels of communication, initially the Semi finals were to be played on 23^rd Feb, this however changed and this did not reach the sevens technical team according to Big M. I don't know if it would have panned differently had they known but lets just put it here.

4.      Set a code of conduct for everyone, this one is specifically to keep issues of social media and the public lime light in general. Let the right channels be used, introduce fines to those that spill the beans in public if need be.

I think with that we would have ironed out the issues at hand and we can finally get to the business of preparing for the Hong Kong leg and the World Cup, together.

I am an eternal optimist when it comes to Kenya Rugby, I believe that things will work out we will have an amicable solution to the impasse and as they say, Rugby will be the winner.

Finally ladies and gents, boys and girls we will be heading to the Ballot on Monday (Yes I had to Mention this) let's choose wisely...

For the people of Roysambu, this Wise choice comes in the shape of Peter 'Matricks' Mutai for the County Representative, if you live in Roysambu you already know the man, if you don't chances ae you know someone who resides in the area. Get them to vote for Mutai. 
Here's a short (no pun intended) profile of the man..

You all know Peter Mutai, the ever smiling diminutive Number 9 has been a main stay in the Kenya fifteens and KCB sides for a while now, he even once made it into the Kenya 7's side.

The Man, Peter Mutai

“I was drawn to politics by the plight of the young people around me, the youth have been impoverished for along time. Project upon project have come, none seemingly changes the plight of the young person.” Peter Mutai says when asked what drew him into politics, “If you can solve the  problems facing the youth then you have a good society” He goes on to say.

He has a 8 point agenda for Roysambu :

• Youth & Women Empowerment

• Internal Road Construction

• Security & Lighting

• Sports development

• Community & Family Development

• Harmonizing City By-Laws

• Garbage Disposal and Environmental Sustainability

He says that he intends to continue playing the game he loves even after being elected, “I want to be the first County Rep. to play for the national team.”

Matricks says he has enjoyed and continues to enjoy the support of his family, friends and team mates in this race, which he is eternally grateful for. 

His advice to other sports men looking to make a change in society, “If you see a problem, fix it, if you don't have the power, seek it! Apply everything you have learnt in sports, work with people and make them own that responsibility. Team work is Key and Always put God first.”

His secret to his long running career in Rugby, “Discipline to routine, hardwork and dedication to training, listening to instructions, teamwork, studying the game, understanding the rules and enjoying myself.” “I always say if God gives you a talent, maximize it to the fullest. That is why I always play with a smile.”

He says one of his dreams is to open the Peter Mutai Sports Sports Foundation....

Mutai in Action for KCB this past weekend.

That is Peter Mutai for you people, I'll get him here for a closer look once he becomes a mheshimiwa...

With that ladies and Gents...

KWISHA...Nimeruka Nje!!!