Rivalry renewed as Harlequin face KCB in Impala Floodlit rugby final

Quins Patrice Agunda(R) chase Roland Osil of Mwamba during Impala Floodlight Rugby Tournament quarter finals at Impala Ground on Saturday 11/10/14. PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

Kenya Commercial Bank and Kenya Harlequin will renew their rivalry in rugby when they play in the finals of the Airtel Impala Floodlit next weekend.

Quins qualified for the finals after beating Mean Machine of the University of Nairobi 20-3 in the semi-finals on Saturday night, while KCB beat arch-rivals Nakuru 25-21 in a heated fixture at the Impala grounds in the second semi-final of the tournament.

KCB and Quins are no strangers to each other with the two teams having been the dominant sides in the Kenya Cup for the past decade before Quins slackened and their position was taken by Nakuru RFC in the past two years.

Quins look like a renewed outfit under new coach Enos Otieno, who is not relying on any national team players apart from Patrice Agunda for their outstanding start to the season.

The side appears to be playing as a team and are more reliant on their structures of play rather than individual talent and brilliance.

According to Otieno, they cannot get carried away by their victory over Mean Machine because of Machine’s ranking in the country’s top league.

“If you look at the results from the Kenya Cup last season, Mean Machine finished in the lower side of the table, hence we cannot really gauge ourselves by our performance against them,” he told FeverPitch yesterday. “I think we can rate ourselves when we play a team that finished in the top quarter of the league,” he added. Otieno will get his wish when they play the Bankers who finished as runners-up to Nakuru in the Kenya Cup last season.

“The finals will definitely be a tough match and I know both teams will be looking to go home as champions,” he concluded.

KCB were not as clinical as Quins in the other semi-final of the day, where they were taken to task by Nakuru in yet another physical confrontation.

Just like last weekend where their star man Philip Wamae was stretchered off due to injury in the beginning exchanges of game, Ken Moseti was also forced off after he sustained a concussion early in the first half against Nakuru.

The five-foot flyhalf was visibly upset by the decision to have been substituted as he insisted that he could continue with the game, even though his team mates and doctor John Ahenda insisted that he should not continue for his own safety.

KCB shrugged off the early drama and went on with the game in a graceful manner to claim a vital victory, that might just mean they have drawn first blood against Nakuru in a battle that might run throughout the season through the Kenya Cup and the Enterprise Cup.

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