Lions devoured: Nakuru roll on in Kenya Cup with win over KCB as Homeboyz humiliate Kisumu

By BS MULAVI and BEN AHENDA

Peter Kepha of Mwamba (right) stops a Strathmore player in their Kenya Cup contest at Strathmore grounds, yesterday.

Nakuru  RFC look set to defend their Kenya Cup trophy after they hammered Kenya Commercial Bank 26-10 at the Nakuru Athletics club on Saturday evening.

The defending champions remain the only unbeaten side in the league and they sit pretty at the summit of the table with two games remaining in the league before the semi-finals.

The bankers also known as Lions  who managed to contain the homeboys in opening minutes had their backs run out steam towards the end of first half which enabled Calvin Otieno and Mike Okombe to touch down twice as Mwita made a conversion and missed the other for a 12-0 score in favour of the winners.

The second half belonged to the winners with more tries from Philip Owuor, Dalmas Chituyi and Mwita made all the conversions.

KCB replied through two tries by Curtis Ilako.

KCB coach Curtis Olago said he lost by the virtue of fielding his younger side and losing to the defending champions did not come as a surprise to him.

 The Bankers have been enjoying a good year in 2014 but their exploits were brought to a screeching halt by a well drilled home side intent on retaining their trophy.

KCB had beaten Strathmore RFC 29-0 in the last round of the Kenya Cup and they seemed to be the first team that would actually cause trouble for the champions, but the hosts proved to be a formidable outfit at home, which has always been their stronghold.

Nakuru coach Dominique Habimana had claimed before the game that they were confident they were ready for the bankers after they had fought tooth and nail to beat Kenya Harlequin.

“The games are coming hard and fast, but the good thing is, the best way to prepare for a hard game is to play against a difficult team,” he said.

The home side had no problems containing the burly forwards from Ruaraka and they will remain favourites to winning their remaing games and qualify for the semi-finals as the top seeds.

Nakuru’s remaining two fixtures include Mwamba RFC and Strathmore, who coincidentally played against each other this weekend at the Strathmore grounds in Madaraka.

The students emerged 29-0 winners to remain on fourth spot, while KCB dropped also maintained second position even after third placed Kenya Harelquin hammered Eldoret RFC 122-0.

In the other matches Homeboyz RFC hammered Kisumu 130-0 in the second high scoring match of the day.