Sports

Mouthwatering ties lined up as the country’s premier rugby competition returns

Saturday, November 27th, 2021 00:00 | By
Kenya Cup is back.

The 2021/22 Kenya Cup season kicks off across the country in five venues where the 12 participating teams will give the fans their first highly anticipated live action in a round that will have the Ngong Road derby played at the RFUEA whilst the KCB host Homeboyz at Ruaraka grounds.

The highlight of the day will be at the RFUEA grounds where Harlequins team manager Charles Njoroge is optimistic the hosts will give the home fans the day’s bragging rights while Impala’s head coach Oscar Osir disclosed it was great to play Quins in the league opener.

“Our target is to start our campaign with a win though it’s going to be a tough match. Derbies are some of the toughest matches in a season and it has always been tough against Impala but we are well prepared and we want to kick off on a good note because we have had a very good pre-season,” Njoroge told PD Digital.

Osir will also be looking forward to a captivating encounter despite suffering pre-season challenges brought up by Covid-19.

“Our pre-season was good but we did not achieve all our goals. However, it was certainly better than what we’ve had in the last two seasons. As a team we couldn’t have asked for any other opponent if it was our choice, playing the neighbour who’s somewhat noisy at times provides sufficient motivation to kick off our campaign. Hopefully we can convert that into a good result,” said Osir.

All matches are set to kick off at 3pm except the sole of the double header of the day to be hosted at RFUEA grounds where at 1pm Strathmore Leos will face Nakuru and afterwards the highly anticipated Ngong Road Derby pitting Kenya Harlequins and Impala Saracens, live on K24 digital platform.
Kakamega County will host two of the remaining three events where last season runners up Kabras Sugar will host BlakBlad at the Kakamega ASK while MMUST play host to Nondescripts at MMUST grounds.

Nakuru County will host the last fixture at the Moi Showground where Menengai Oilers will hope to crack winning points off their opener against Mwamba.

The season will have relegation and promotions return to effect after missing out of the 2021 season that did not include Homeboyz.

The Deejays are, however, back and will be under the tutelage of coach Simon Odongo who will lead his charges to open the new season against the defending champions on away grounds.

The last time the two sides met was in 2020 February at Jamhuri showgrounds where the hosts held KCB to a 22-22 stalemate. Adaka who was scheduled to undergo surgery.

“We have two players coming back and have been training and are in good shape though we still have to assess captain Onsomu’s fitness level before he can be allowed to play,” Jimmy Mnene expounded.

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