Impala director sets sights on Floodlit title

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

After winning 13-11 in last Saturday’s closely contested Impala Floodlit Tournament semi-final dubbed the ‘Ngong Road Derby’ against Kenya Harlequin, Impala RFC Director of Rugby Fred Ollows has set his sights on reclaiming the title they lost to Mean Machine in 2011.

The Sarries, who will now be seeking their seventh Floodlit title and a first in six years face another Herculean task against champions Kenya Commercial Bank in a repeat of last year’s final. The bankers rallied from behind to beat the hosts 26-14.

The Curtis Olago coached side was the first team to sail through in the finals of the 36th edition of the oldest floodlit tournament after stunning a determined Nakuru 28-26 in the first semis at the same venue.

After a cagey opening half that saw Impala’s Nato Simiyu cancel out Lyle Asiligwa’s penalty to go to the breather tied at 3-3, Impala had to dig deep to claim the derby bragging rights and qualify for the finals thanks to man of the match Quinto Oongo’s own converted try and late penalty.

“It was a big win. Every time we beat Harlequin is a good thing for the club, so we are totally enjoying it,” a visibly delighted Ollows told Feverpitch after the derby victory.

“We want to reclaim the title and that’s exactly what we are aiming for at this point-that’s why we played this game like that.”

Asked why the game was restricted to the 22 area on both sides in the first half, Ollows said:

“There was no real carries beyond the game line, the tackles from both sides were quite good. As you can imagine, a derby game everybody comes to play to his best. Quins had really good defence towards us, but we also defended very well.”

But for Ollows it is impressive the Oongo who changed the game in the second half and expects him to replicate the same performance in Saturday’s finals.