Substitute Ntabeni Dukisa’s man-of-the-match performance with three penalties on Saturday powered Kabras Sugar Rugby Club to yet another historic feat in the Kenya Cup at Kakamega ASK Showground.
With his team Kabras Sugar trailing 3-0, the 37-year-old South Africa-born fly-half stepped onto the wet ground just minutes before the break, and turned things around for a hard-fought 14-8 victory, securing a fifth consecutive Kenya Cup title for the sugar millers.
Before Friday, only Nondescripts (1978-1982) and Impala (1970-1974) had won five Kenya Cup titles in a row.
The victory not only marked Kabras Sugar’s sixth Kenya Cup victory but also their 54th consecutive league victory as coach Carlos Katywa’s side also stretched their unbeaten run to a record four consecutive seasons.
Katywa also celebrated stretching his unbeaten run to 52 matches since taking over the reins from fellow South African Jerome Muller during the 2022/2023 season.
Dukisa, has now won five consecutive Kenya Cup titles with Kabras Sugar, besides being named the Most Valuable Player during the final for the third successive time.
“That is why I am at Kabras Sugar. I just love this club, and I will give everything for it. I am proud of what I have achieved with these boys,” said Dukisa. “I knew things were not going well, but it’s about good teamwork. It was tough, but we had the final laugh.”
KCB squandered six penalty opportunities when they opted to scratch after fly-half Brian Wahinya missed converting thrice.
Kabras failed to utilise the opportunity with the ball proving slippery when KCB’s Festus Shiasi and Brian Wahinya were sin-binned in the 14th and 37th minutes respectively.
Katywa introduces Dukisa, Brian Tanga and Kelvin Wekess for Eric Cantona, Roy Maruti and flanker Shem Joseph.
On resumption, the trio stabilised the proceedings with Dukisa curling in a penalty from 35 metres to level the proceedings at 3-3. Wahinya would miss two consecutive penalties as Dukisa cashed on their misfortunes to put Kabras ahead 6-3.
Things would look grim for Kabras when substitute Ephraim Oduor and Patrick Lumumba were sin-binned by referee Constant Cap in the 60th minute, but they prevailed.
