SCHOOLS: It's St. Mary's Yala vs Kisii in rugby final as giants Maseno School bow out of Nyanza games

St Mary's Yala (white) in action against Maseno School.[Michael Mute,Standard]

St. Mary’s Yala will renew their rivalry with Kisii School in the rugby 15s finals as the curtains come down on the 2024 Nyanza Region Secondary School games on Saturday at Kisumu Boys.

Yala who are the Siaya County champions booked their spot in the finals after laboring to a tight 8-5 win over Nyabondo from Kisumu County.

Anjelo Opingo scored an unconverted try before Collins Okoth added a penalty to seal the win for St Mary’s Yala who will be seeking to qualify for the national games set to be held in Machakos next month.

Speaking after the win, Yala coach Kenneth Mukok said their mental stability played key role in their win and they are now looking forward to meeting Kisii who knocked them out in the semifinals during last year’s games held at Kisii School.

Mukok said they will be going for blood after a painful 10-7 defeat last year, a revenge they will strategically plan to execute against Kisii.

“It was very tough against Nyabondo in the semis especially after the energy we deployed when we drew 0-0 against Maseno School in pour last preliminary group match.

“We are confident and must face Kisii with determination and momentum since we want to get to the nationals. We lost last year but that is in the past. We are ready to show them who is the boss,” said Mukok.

St Mary’s Yala Principal Victor Makanda who was in attendance motivated the rugby players with awards after the semifinal win as he targets to return to the nationals and possibly East Africa after last year’s feat with the rugby sevens team.

Meanwhile, Kisumu County champions Maseno School were knocked out of the Nyanza games after losing to arch rivals Kisii School 3-0 in the semifinals.

Maseno who reached last year’s final will now go back to the drawing board after another disappointing year in rugby 15s.

Nyanza Region Rugby 15s live update

Round 1

Kisii School 7 v Anjego 0

Nyabondo 12 v Agoro Sare 5

Maseno 29 v Gekano 0

Yala 65 v Cardinal 0

Nyabondo 0 v Kisii School 22

Anjego 26 Agoro 0

Maseno 39 Cardinal 0

Yala 41 Gekano 0

Anjego 7 Nyabondo 21

Kisii School 24 v Agoro Sare 0

Gekano 16 v Cardinal 0

Maseno 0 Yala 0

Semi 1

Maseno 0 Kisii 3

Semi 2

Yala 8 v Nyabondo 5

Final

Yala v Kisii