Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Kabras head coach Carlos Katwya believes former Kenya Cup champions KCB RFC come in the final as the underdogs having been beaten by the sugar men in the regular season a few weeks ago where the Kakamega-based side prevailed 29-23 in a nail-biting fixture.

However, the South African coach believes there is no room for his players to underrate the Bankers who have lost only one game this season, which was against Kabras.

“We beat our rivals KCB in the regular season 29-23 and heading to this fixture they come in as underdogs, but my players have no room to underrate them because our purpose is to win the coveted title with our fans,that’s our main task for the weekend,” Katwya said.

Heading to Saturday’s finals in Kakamega, Katywa will be buoyed by the return of Kenya international Brian Tanga and Kevin Wekesa who are fresh from participating in the just concluded Vancouver and Los Angeles tour with Shujaa.

Katywa will also see Fijian-born Jonah Kubu, Kenya Simba forward Dan Sikuta, George Nyambua, and the talented South African Ntabeni Dukisa to marshal his troops to victory when the Bankers come calling over the weekend.

The South African tactician also held that playing the final on their familiar pitch with their supporters at hand is the perfect stage for both the players and the supporters. The last time the final was hosted at the Kakamega Show ground was in 2019.

On the other hand, KCB Captain Curtis Lilako believes his side is ready for the task ahead and the loss to Kabras in the regular season will not play a part in their quest to reclaim a title they lost to their rivals.

According to Lilako, the Bankers have been looking at the mistakes they made during the loss, and heading to the finals, the Curtis Lilako-coached side has no doubt they can reclaim the coveted Kenya cup title.

“Yes we lost the game against Kabras, but we have since looked into the mistakes we made and the boys have been sharp enough to rectify the loose ends again it’s a final we just have to put our best game forward. It will definitely be a tough clash, but we are going to give our all,” Lilako said.

His sentiments were supported by his counterpart Oscar Sorano who claimed the forwards will be keen on working on their defensive line, patience on defence, and high tackles that have caused them unnecessary penalties.

“There were a couple of penalties for offsides while defending and the high tackles really caused us important penalties We need to keep our discipline up and tackles low and look at the offside line, be wary of where we are on the pitch, and with that, I believe we can win this final,” Sorano said.

Indeed, the Banker’s indiscipline was alarming in that they got penalized more than 20 times against Varsity Side Mean Machine just before the play-offs stage and heading to the finals, head coach Olago will obviously look into the matter.

Olago will be banking on the experience of the ever-present Darwin Mukidza to slot in the penalties while the likes of Andrew Amonde, Bob Muhati and Michael Kimwele marshal their units as KCB launch their attack to reclaim the Kenya cup title.

KCB RFC defeated Menengai Oilers 38-20 in a Kenya Cup semifinal played at the Ruaraka Grounds in Nairobi, while Kabras were 22-8winners over Kenya Harlequin in a game where they rallied from 0-3.

Both KCB and Kabras have been the most dominant sides in the local rugby scene having featured in the final since 2014, this being the 16th meeting between the two sides.

The Bankers have won 11 of their 15 previous encounters while Kabras have won 3 with one fixture ending in a draw.

Decorated referee Victor Oduor will take charge of the much-awaited final which kicks off at 3 pm Kenyan time at the Kakamega show ground.

The librarian who boasts of a World rugby level three accreditation will be overseeing his 100th match as a centre referee.