Rugby teams dominate Soya Awards nominations

Three rugby teams have made the cut for the 2021 Sports Personality of the Year (Soya) Team of the Year Awards nominations.

Kenya Sevens team Shujaa, Kenya Cup champions KCB Rugby and Kabras Sugar Rugby hope that one of them will be declared winners during 2021 Soya Gala due January 19 next year at Bukhungu Stadium, Kakamega.

However, they will have to beat two football teams - Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKF-PL) champions Tusker and newly promoted FKF-PL side Talanta FC- for the award.

This year's event is sponsored by the County Government of Kakamega, Lotto Foundation, CPF Financial Services, NSSF and Safaricom.

Shujaa collected 34 points to finish third during the 2021 World Sevens Series behind winners South Africa (40) and Great Britain (34). 

Shujaa won the Safari Sevens for the first time since 2016 after defeating Germany 12-5 in the final on October 31 at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Coach Innocent Simiyu’s side also bagged silver at Vancouver 7s after losing to South Africa 38-5 in the Cup final on September 19 and won bronze in Edmonton after they beat Canada 33-14 in the play-off for third and fourth place.  

They were playing in the final for the first time since 2016 when they won the Singapore Sevens, their first victory in the World Sevens Series.

It was not a good outing though for Shujaa at the Tokyo Olympics as they finished in ninth place after beating Ireland 22-0 in the playoff.

KCB Rugby successfully defended their Kenya Cup title after staging a 20-0 comeback to beat rivals Kabras Sugar 28-25 at Nandi Bearers and clinch a fourth straight title on September 4.

During the regular season that was shortened due to Covid-19, KCB finished second after suffering only one defeat 30-23 to Kabras on August 7 in Nandi.

The Kakamega-based side Kabras finished the league season top of the standings, but lost to Curtis Olago’s KCB in the final.

Tusker won the FKF-PL after collecting 65 points from 32 matches in a season that was prolonged due to disruption brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Matano’s men will however be hoping that having beaten the likes of record champions Gor Mahia in the race for the league title it will be more than enough to be crowned the best team.

They also produced the Coach of the Year (Robert Matano), Young Player of the Year (Henry Meja) and Defender of the Year (Eugene Asike) during the FKF Awards gala.

Tusker flew Kenya’s flag in the CAF Champions League where they beat Djibouti’s Arta Solar 4-1 to advance to the preliminary stages of the competition.

However, they were eliminated 5-0 on aggregate by Egyptian giants Zamalek and they dropped to the CAF Confederation Cup plays-off where they fell to Tunisian side CS Sfaxien 1-0.

Talanta won the National Super League (NSL) with four matches to go, to earn promotion to the top tier league for the first time in history.
 
Men Team of the Year nominees:

Tusker

KCB Rugby

Kenya Sevens

Kabras Sugar Rugby

Talanta FC