NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 22 – Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) rugby assistant coach Dennis Mwanja says his side had to dig deep for maximum points in their 33-18 win over Strathmore University Leos in a Kenya Cup match on Saturday.
Mwanja admitted the team slept on their job at some point and had to be jolted back to reality by the marauding students.
“I believe we went cold at some point…like a loss of concentration. It looked like a game that was gone but our character carried the day. A win is a win at the end of the day but I cannot say we played to the best of our abilities today. They (Leos) asked us a lot of questions and we didn’t have all the answers,” Mwanja said.
The bankers started on the front foot against the students, scoring two tries in quick succession to race into a 14-5 lead at the half time.
However, Leos came back roaring in the second half, Brunson Madigu scoring two penalties to reduce the deficit to 14-11.
A converted try by the students saw them go ahead 18-14 and threaten an upset at the lions’ den.
However, Brian Wahinya’s try steadied the ship for the bankers and allowed them to regain control of the game.
A bonus try from Isaac Njoroge and another one from Johnstone Olindi ensured that KCB would maintain their unbeaten run in the Kenya Cup after seven matches.
Mwanja, also the head coach of the national women’s sevens side, said they have learnt their lessons from the hair-raising experience and will tweak their playing system to make them impenetrable.
“We have to work on reducing those errors. We just need to play better, soak the pressure and convert our chances. We have to trust the system and ensure that it works,” he said.
The match was dubbed “Jerry Di Baddest Olola Cup,” in memory of the late Jerry Olola who played for both sides in his career.
Meanwhile, Kenya Harlequins continued their ascent up the table when they beat Homeboyz 28-11 at the RFUEA grounds in Nairobi.
Defending champions Kabras Sugar were ruthless against Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad, thrashing them 67-3 whereas last year’s losing finalists Menengai Oilers recovered from last weekend’s humbling by the students to beat Mwamba 53-15 at the Nakuru Showground.
Similarly, Nakuru recovered from last week’s 42-0 pulping by Kabras to beat University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine 37-8 at the latter’s UoN grounds.
Catholic Monks were not so timid against Masinde Muliro, defeating their fellow students 20-13 at the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA) grounds in Nairobi.
