Kenya Harlequin, Impala face-off in Enterprise Cup
What you need to know:
- KCB are fresh from reclaiming the Kenya Cup title, beating Kabras Sugar 36-8 two weeks ago.
- The two sides also faced-off in last year’s Enterprise Cup where KCB retained the title after winning 24-12.
Resolution Impala Saracens host Kenya Harlequin in a potentially explosive Enterprise Cup quarterfinal at Impala Sports Club starting from 4pm on Saturday.
The Ngong Road derby is among the four crunchy quarterfinal showdowns today in Nairobi and Kakamega.
It’s left to be known whether Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad, who stunned Mwamba 17-12 in the pre-quarters, will uphold their fairytale against champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) at KCB Ruaraka.
Kabras Sugar will host Nondescripts, who crushed Mean Machine from the University of Nairobi 19-5 at the Kakamega show grounds while Homeboyz take on Strathmore Leos at the Jamhuri Park show grounds in Kakamega.
Homeboyz mauled Western Bulls 32-20 to set up Leos showdown.
Quins, who bundled out Nakuru 28-20 last weekend, head into the match having an upper hand by virtue of having beaten Resolution Impala twice in Kenya Cup this season.
Quins humbled the Sarries 28-10 in their first leg and 36-26 in the second leg on their way to the Kenya Cup semi-finals where they lost to eventual winners KCB 19-12.
The last time the Sarries had the better of Quins was in October during Floodlight semi-final where they won 11-10.
“The previous results won’t count and we are going into the match fresh, playing for victory,” said Quins coach Joel Ng’ang’a, who will miss the serves of his backs David Ambunya, Isaac Adimo, Dennis Muhanji and Patrick Agunda, who are on tour with Kenya Simbas in South Africa.
Resolution Impala are also depleted with some of their influential forwards Dennis Karani, Simon Muniafu, Eric Kerre and James Kubasu with the Simbas. Also with the team is Impala’s nimble scrum-half Samson Onsomu.
“We should expense a tense match, which is synonymous with such derbies but we are going for victory,” said Impala director of coaching Fred Ollows.
Impala, who have won the diadem 11 times, held the title last in 2005 - while the 10-time champions Quins won it last in 2011.
Blak Blad’s eighth-man skipper Wesley Kidinga believes his side can stun KCB, having gotten the momentum and inspiration from downing Mwamba. “It feels great beating Mwamba for the first time to reach our first Enterprise Cup quarters,” said Kidinga.
“The KCB challenge is much tougher but we are mentally prepared.”
KCB are fresh from reclaiming the Kenya Cup title, beating Kabras Sugar 36-8 two weeks ago. The two sides also faced-off in last year’s Enterprise Cup where KCB retained the title after winning 24-12.
Enterprise Cup quarterfinals (Kick-off 4pm)
KCB vs Blak Blad (KCB, Ruaraka), Kabras Sugar v Nondescripts (Kakamega show grounds), Resolution Impala v Quins (Impala), Strathmore Leos v Homeboyz (Jamhuri Park).
