Five things we learnt from Floodies opening weekend
Hosts Resolution Impala Saracens and defending champions KCB cruised to the semi finals of the 2015 Impala Floodlit tournament after winning their quarter final fixtures in convincing fashion at the Impala Club on Saturday 17 October 2015.
Mwamba RFC, Kenya Harlequins, Nondies and Nakuru RFC were all swept aside.
Here is what Nairobi News gleaned from the opening weekend.
1. Nato Simiyu is still a class act after a decade on top of his game. The Impala Saracens flyhalf was in devastating form during their match against Kenya Harlequins.
He set up tries, scored and converted as he expertly guided his team to a 48-17 romp. He particularly exposed the Quins defense time and again with his footwork and mazy runs. An overwhelming Player Of the Weekend.
2. Is Kenya rugby losing players too early due work commitments and other “unavailabitiies”? The return of one Kenya’s best front rows Odi Odera for Nondies RFC and Eric Kioko for Panafric Strathmore Leos shows that we might have lost some of the talent to other commitments.
Odera and Kioko were excellent in their games and you would have been forgiven to imagine that they had been out of the pitch for more than season.
3. Darwin Mukidza is one of Kenya’s finest back three, at least in recent years. He was good with ball in hand and and his kicks from hand caused all sorts of problems to a startled Mwamba backline.
He had spotted the weak link in Mwamba’s defense line and kept on running into it whenever he had the ball. His gainline success was almost guaranteed when he was on the attack.
4. When it rains, it pours. Mwamba RFC had the worst outing at the 34th edition of Impala Floodlit tournament. They were outplayed, outmuscled and outran by a KCB side that looked like that had had a purposeful preseason.
Mwamba went into this fixture with a fairly young squad and fielded a rookie straight out of Nationwide at outside centre. It was not the best move as KCB runners targeted and exploited his naivety.
To compound matters, Kulabu lost their linkman Shaban Ahmed to a suspected concussion early in the second half. Martin Wanjia was thrown in but he had a nightmare of a game. It was literally a black Saturday for the Black Shirts.
5. Will this be Menengai Cream Hombeoyz RFC year to shine at the Floodies? The Deejays settled quickly into their match against a gritty Nondies RFC and took the game by the neck. They had good set pieces, were impressive going forward and had good defence. The Deejays must grab their first major XV silverware(Promotion to Kenya Cup excluded. )
