Menengai Oilers savour maiden Floodies title
Kenya Rugby Union President Sasha Mutai hands over the Impala Floodlit winners’ trophy to Menengai Oilers captain Ibrahim Ayoo and his teammates on November 2, 2024 at Impala Club in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Weru cautioned that his players are still in their pre-season preparations and will head back to their Nakuru base to review their performance and see where to improve.
- “We shall celebrate the victory for the weeks to come, but get back to Kenya Cup mode since that is where the real challenge is. I believe we can get better,” said Weru, noting that he has a squad that will compete for Kenya Cup top honours effectively.
Menengai Oilers Rugby Club had not won a major silverware in 15s rugby before their triumph on Saturday night in Impala Floodlit tournament final played at the Impala Sports Club grounds in Nairobi.
Menengai Oliers, who won the National Sevens Circuit in 2022, came close to winning the prestigious Kenya Cup title in the 2021/2022 season but lost to Kabras Sugar 34-28 in the final.
Before that evenly-contested final, Menengai Oilers had ended KCB Rugby’s four-year dominance in the Kenya Cup, beating the bankers 4-17 in the semi-final at KCB Sports Club ground in Ruaraka. KCB had won the Kenya Cup title four times in a row.
After coming close many times, the team came good on Saturday, crushing home side Impala 42-3 in a one-sided final for a maiden Impala Floodlit title.
Last year, Oilers lost to eventual winners KCB 41-21 in the semi-finals of the Impala Floodlit tournament. The two teams also played in the final of the 2018 tournament which the bankers won. KCB found the going tough this year as they were bundled out by Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad 9-8 in the quarterfinals.
Formed in 2016, Menengai Oilers are keen to use their maiden Impala Floodlit title as a springboard to a maiden Kenya Cup title next season.
“Impala Floodlit title has been a long time coming...this victory is a culmination of so many years of hard work. We are excited to have won our first silverware and we hope we can use it as a springboard to many more titles,” coach Gibson Weru said.
Weru cautioned that his players are still in their pre-season preparations and will head back to their Nakuru base to review their performance and see where to improve.
“We shall celebrate the victory for the weeks to come, but get back to Kenya Cup mode since that is where the real challenge is. I believe we can get better,” said Weru, noting that he has a squad that will compete for Kenya Cup top honours effectively.
“We are not yet there 100 percent but we are not far off hence we shall continue getting better. We have been learning from our losses and getting more experience,” explained Weru.
Weru said that having many of his players training with Kenya Simbas side has helped them improve, given the experience they gain from playing at the international level.
“Kabras Sugar is a top club because they have many players featuring for Kenya Simbas. It’s hard to compete against experience in the Kenya Cup, but again you must earn that experience as it can’t be fast-tracked,” the former Kenya Simbas and Kenya Sevens international said.
Were reckons that the Kenya Cup will be a tough journey and different game ball as the team will play 11 matches before the crucial play-offs.
