Resilience pays off as KCB Lions hunt down Impala

Kenya Commercial Bank celebrate after beating host Impala Saracens in the Floodlit Final held at Impala Club on Saturday Oct 27, 2018. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Bankers bask in cup glory

Resilience pays off as Lions hunt down Impala

Kenya Cup champions floor hosts Impala in pulsating final on Saturday night to bag seventh Floodlit title.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) assistant coach Dennis Mwanja lauded his side’s resilience following their 20-18 triumph over Impala Saracens in the Floodlit final on Saturday night.

Speaking after the match, Mwanja warned his side against complacency, saying they are far from hitting the perfect form, despite retaining the Floodlit crown.

“We had to dig deep to win the title. The game could have gone either way but the opportunities we took proved to vital,” said Mwanja.

“Our players possess the x-factor of fighting to the end and that made the difference. It is double pleasure for us.”

With the encounter deadlocked at 10-all at the interval, KCB took the lead after the restart through Francis Mwita’s converted try before Xavier Bett’s penalty reduced the deficit for Impala.

KCB then relinquished the lead yet again as Joshua Matasi went over the whitewash to give Impala a 18-17 lead before Shaban Ahmed booted a penalty to restore the bankers’ advantage.

Hosts Impala were handed an opportunity to win the match deep into the second half only for substitute Benard Rotich to squander a final play penalty.

With KCB having attended a 10-day High Performance training in Cape Town, South Africa prior to the Floodlit tournament, Mwanja admitted they were under pressure to deliver.

“There were a lot of expectations from us after the much hyped pre-season in South Africa and the boys handled the pressure quite well. Impala were worthy opponents and they worked hard to reach the final,” Mwanja said.

“We now have our work cut out and we should not relent. We still have a lot of work to be done. For instance, we didn’t give Impala any opposition for the maul.

"We are known for scoring off mauls but this time we were given a taste of our own medicine,” the former Kenya Sevens player added.

Mean Machine's James Kang'ethe of UON is tackled by Ryan Onyango of Kenyatta University player during the rugby varsity league final match at UoN Grounds on Saturday Oct 27, 2018. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

While noting their dominance in set-pieces, Impala coach Frank Ndong’ attributed the loss to poor kicking. Ndong’s charges missed three conversions and one penalty.

“We had trained for kicking because we knew the game would be won on the boot and it was unfortunate we were undone by our kicking. Perhaps we over-concentrated on dominating the set pieces, which may have worked against us,” Ndong’ said.

Meanwhile, Nairobi-based Ofafa Jericho won in schools' final after beating Alliance while University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine were victorious in the Varsities category.

Kenya Harlequins defeated Mwamba in plate final.

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