Kabras Sugar coach Habimana looks to end five year Kenya Cup drought

Kabras Sugar scrum half Brian Tanga (center) is tackled by KCB players during a past match at Nandi Bears Club. [Washington Onyango,Standard]

Three-time Kenya Cup finalists Kabras Sugar will be hoping to end their five-year championship drought on Saturday when they host seven-time champions KCB in the Kenya Cup final set to be played at Nandi Bears Club.

Kabras Sugar will host the Kenya Cup final for the second time in a row after finishing top during the regular season.

Speaking ahead of the match, Kabras head coach Dominique Habimana believes time has come for the sugar millers to finally win the Kenya Cup final.

“We have been trying to eliminate things that slow the progress of our system of play and replaced them with modern tactics and executions that have seen our system of play blossom throughout the season,” said Habimana.

Kabras are enjoying a 19-match winning run that stretches two years back with their last defeat coming on December 14, 2019 when they narrowly lost 20-17 to Homeboyz.

The Sugar men have a 100% win record this season after winning all their matches before the finals. They knocked out Strathmore Leos 39-19 in the semis last weekend to reach the final for the sixth time in a row.

“Now, Kabras has the ability to win the title and it is just a matter of time before we actualize this dream,” said the coach.

This will be the 13th Kenya Cup meeting between Kabras RFC and KCB. KCB have won nine, drawn once and lost twice. The bankers have a 100% win record in the finals against Kabras, winning all the last four encounters. 

Kabras and KCB have met in four previous Kenya Cup finals -2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019 – all of them ending in KCB’s favor.

Kabras though, have won the two most recent fixtures against the bankers – 19-6 during the suspended 2019-2020 season and 30-23 during this year’s regular season.

Having finished top of the log in the regular season, Kabras opted to host the match at Nandi Bears Club which has hosted their final three home matches in the run-up to the Kenya Cup final and not Kakamega Showground since Western region was declared a Covid-19 hot spot zone.

Kabras record in Kenya Cup final

Kabras Sugar 15-23 KCB -2019

KCB 29-24 Kabras Sugar -2018

KCB Rugby 36-8 Kabras Sugar – 2017

KCB Rugby 27-3 Kabras Sugar -2015