Answered prayers: Monks, Mean Machine seal Kenya Cup return
Samuel Omollo of Catholic University "Monks" in action against Shamas Foundation during their Kenya Rugby Union Championship semi-final match at RFUEA ground in Nairobi on March 19, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Fullback Samuel Omollo's three penalties are what the Monks needed to beat Shamas Foundation 9-5 to win their Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) Championships semi-final at the RFUEA ground on Saturday
- Mean Machine from the University of Nairobi also made a return to Kenya Cup when they beat South Coast Pirates 20-14 in the other semi-final duel at Seacrest, Ukunda
- Shamas coach Stephan Outtou protested bitterly on how referee Said Kenya handled the match
Catholic University Monks are back in Kenya Cup rugby league.
Fullback Samuel Omollo's three penalties are what the Monks needed to beat Shamas Foundation 9-5 to win their Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) Championships semi-final at the RFUEA ground on Saturday. Centre Godfrey Khisero replied with a try for Shamas.
The performance was enough to see the varsity students make their return to the topflight rugby league since 2014/15 season.
Mean Machine from the University of Nairobi also made a return to Kenya Cup when they beat South Coast Pirates 20-14 in the other semi-final duel at Seacrest, Ukunda.
Machine - who won Kenya Cup in 1977, 1989 ans 1990 - were relegated from Kenya Cup during the 2018/19 season.
The Monks coach Simon Jawichre said his team was third time lucky, having been knocked out in the semi-finals twice.
"This was a better year for us since all we needed to do was reach the playoffs and we finished third in the regular season," said Jawichre, adding that Menengai Oilers stunning victory against depending champions KCB Rugby where they won by eight penalties is what inspired them.
"We took it in our strides and said that if Oilers did it from kicks then we cam also do it. We knew it's a match that would be won on kicks and that is why we went for points by deploying Khisero," said Jawichre.
Dan Ochieng' of Shamas Foundation (left) charges past Elly Ojwang of Catholic University "Monks" during their Kenya Rugby Union Championship semi-final match at RFUEA ground in Nairobi on March 19, 2022.
However, Shamas coach Stephan Outtou protested bitterly on how referee Said Kenya handled the match.
"We can't advance our rugby when matches are handled poorly with clear favouritism from the match officials," said Outtou. "Teams invest so much to reach where we are then matches are handled badly...it's unacceptable."
Outtou said the referee's calls for forward passes that didn't happen worked against the flow of play.
