Impala, KCB in tough tie

Hosts in daunting task as they face bankers in bid to avenge last year’s loss.

Hosts Impala Saracens face a tall order today when they confront defending champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in the Floodlit final as they seek reclaim the title they last won in 2016.

It will be the third straight meeting between the sides in the final with last year’s match having ended 18-17 in favour of KCB.

The winner of the tie, scheduled to kick off at 7pm at the Impala Club, will pocket Sh 200,000 while the silver medallists will walk home Sh 80,000 richer.

On their way to the final, Impala, who boast of six Floodlit titles edged out Ngong Road rivals Kenya Harlequins 20-15 and booked a spot in today’s  final with a hard-earned 20-18 win over Strathmore Leos in the semi  finals.

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KCB, on the other hand, eased past Mwamba with a 25-10 victory in the quarter finals before handing Homeboyz a 34-10 defeat last Saturday.

With KCB having conceded only 20 points in their run to today’s decider, Impala coach Frank Ndong’ has said that breaching the Bankers defence will be their key target.

“First of all, I think we really need to find a way of breaching KCB’s defence. They are the best defensive side in Kenya and for us to win, we must get a way of playing behind them. At the same time, we must defend our line to the death,” Ndong told Standard Sports.

Despite having to do without the halfback pairing of Samson Onsomu and Samuel Oliech who are engaged with the national 15s side, Ndong’ is optimistic that their replacements in Xavier Kipng’etich and Mark Kwemoi will be up to the task.

“Two of our key players are unavailable due to their engagement with the national team but I believe their replacements are equally good. We have trained well and we hope to compete favourably,” Ndong’ said.

KCB and Impala last faced off on March 3 in a Kenya Cup fixture which ended in a dramatic 9-9 draw in Ruaraka.

Meanwhile, Ofafa Jericho and Alliance will face off in the school’s final at 1.30pm, paving the way for the varsities final pitting University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine against United States International University at 3pm.