MOMBASA, Kenya, Sep 2- Kenya Cup and Enterprise Cup champions KCB found the going tough in the shorter version of the game when they failed to make it to the Main Cup Quarters at the Driftwood Sevens in Mombasa, finishing third in the group and dropping to the Challenge Trophy on Saturday.
Not even the presence of seasoned national team players like Darwin Mukidza, Davies Chenge and Jacob Ojee could hold their piece together as lowly fancied Mean Machine found their rhythm back to sneak into the quarters courtesy of KCB’s final loss against Impala.
The Bankers had started the tournament well, winning their first two games, but their 15-7 loss at the hands of Impala meant Machine, who had won two and lost one advance in second position on points difference.
“It is disappointing because we came here of course with the minimum target of getting to the Main Cup quarters. Our team has too many stars but unfortunately we could not translate that into the pitch today. We now focus on the Challenge Trophy and hopefully we get to win something,” KCB Sevens coach Dennis Mwanja told Capital Sport.
It was not only KCB who registered lukewarm performance as Mwamba RFC who have won the Driftwood four times also dropped into the Challenge Trophy after failing to win any game, losing two and drawing one.
Meanwhile, Kabras Sugar who finished second to KCB in both 15’s tournaments last season made it safely into the last eight with a perfect record and did not concede even a single try.
-Main Cup Quarters pairings-
The Charles Cardovillis side will face off with Menengai Oilers who finished second in Pool B having sailed through with a 17-0 thrashing over Kisii RFC in their final match.
Defending circuit champions Homeboyz will take on Nondiescript, Impala Saracens lock horns with 2015 circuit champions Nakuru RFC while Mean Machine will square it out with Driftwood defending champions Kenya Harlequin.
Quins topped their pool with a 100 percent record, winning all their matches after seeing off Oilers 17-7, Kisii 17-0and Mwamba 7-0.
After starting off the day well against Oilers, Quins got into higher gear in their second match against Kisii. Edward Shitanda touched down on the right for the defending champions after powering his way past the Kisii defense.
Pius Shiundu the stretched the lead further despite failing to convert his own try, using his devastating speed to stretch the Kisii defense on the right before going over convincingly. Herman Mumwa then used his body well to bump away his markers before going down under the posts as Quins went 15-0 up.
Shiundu added in the extras to see the holders all but confirm their place in the quarter finals.
However, they found their second game against eternal rivals Mwamba tougher, but they still managed to rake away a converted try to win.
The burly Ginton Adongo darted away from his chasers from the middle of the pitch, a few stopovers to get away from his final man and a dive to finish off the wonderful run with Shiundu converting to give Quins their third win of the tournament.
-Homeboyz cruise-
Homeboyz were also in great form winning all their three games. They shook off their cobwebs early morning with a 28-5 win over Kenyatta University’s BlackBlad before showing their real prowess with a 36-7 whitewash of Western Bulls.
Cyprian Kuto opened up the successful harvest for the Deejeys with the first try touching down under the posts after finding space at the back following a neat offload from Michael Wanjala. The latter then stepped up to convert as Homeboyz went 7-0 up.
Keith Wasike then added a second with a try on the left and despite Wanjala failing to kick in the bonus, Homeboyz still looked comfortable at 12-0.
A quick setpiece start found the Western Bulls backline sleeping on their guard and Charles Omondi made no mistake taking advantage and dotting down for Leonard Mugaisi to convert.
Towards half time, Western Bulls crossed the halfway line for the first time in the game to make a converted try as they pushed the game to a 19-7 scoreline at half time.
However, three tries one converted in the second half from skipper Jeff Oluoch, Mugaisi and Stanley Isogol saw Homeboyz stay clear.
Their toughest match of the afternoon was against arch rivals Nakuru but they managed to advance to the last four with a late converted try to win 14-12 to ensure they top the group.
Kuto danced away from the Nakuru defense to dot down while Wanjala converted as Homeboyz went 7-0 up. But Casius Omolo ensured his team reduced the deficit at the break with a try of his own on the right.
Wanyore came into the second half and fired straight from kick off, as Brian Maina touched down and converted the try for his side to leap into a 12-7 lead.
However, a lapse in concentration saw Kuto complete his brace in the game and Wanjala converted to ensure an outright 14-12 win.
Quarters pairings:
Main Cup
Homeboyz v Nondies, Kabras v Oilers, Impala v Nakuru, Kenya Harlequins v Mean Machine
Challenge Trophy:
BlakBlad v KCA, KCB v Kisii, Strathmore v Western Bulls, Mwamba v Mombasa
Collated results
Menengai Cream Homeboyz 27 Blak Blad 5
Top Fry Nakuru 12 Western Bulls 0
SportPesa Quins 17 Menengai Oilers 7
Mwamba 17 Resolution Kisii 17
Resolution Impala 5 Mean Machine 7
KCB 25 Mombasa 7
Strathmore 12 Nondies 17
Kabras 24 KCA 0
Menengai Cream Homeboyz 36 Western Bulls 7
Top Fry Nakuru 10 Blak Blad 10
SportPesa Quins 17 Resolution Kisii 0
Mwamba 0 Menengai Oilers 14
Resolution Impala Saracens 25 Mombasa 0
KCB 7 Mean Machine 5
Strathmore 29 KCA 0
Kabras 17 Nondies 0
Blak Blad 17 Western Bulls 0
Menengai Oilers 17 Resolution Kisii 0
Mean Machine 17 Mombasa 0
Nondies 27 KCA 0
Homeboyz 14 Nakuru 12
Quins 7 Mwamba 0, Impala 17 KCB 7
Strathmore 0 Kabras 17
