The third round of the KRU Championship was a heartbreaker for Shamas Foundation following an 8-5 away upset to Kabarak University who walked in the match while placed at the bottom of the league as Kisumu and Eldoret tied on three penalties each.

Shamas entered their third clash at the top of the log owing to two successive bonus point wins in the opening two rounds and were expected to stroll over Kabarak having condemned the side 39-8 in their previous meeting.

Their fellow newbies, however, took their chances at home to pull an upset to come off the bottom seat while Shamas bagged a crucial losing bonus.

The crucial losing bonus enabled Shamas to remain on top of the standings that have been rearranged as Mean Machine climbed to second place previously occupied by Catholic Monks who dropped a place to sit third with nine points, one ahead of Western Bulls who climbed up five places following a nervy 19-17 win over the Monks.

Despite suffering the biggest upset of the round, Shamas was grateful for a losing bonus that extended their points tally to 11, a point ahead of Mean Machine who pulled the biggest win of the weekend following a 43-7 win that ended Eldoret’s unbeaten run in the sole match won by a bonus.
Away wins

In the other five matches played, only South Coast Pirates walked away with an away win, a slim 19-17 against last season semi-finalist Northern Suburbs. It was a second tough away win for the Pirates who came into the match with two away wins over USIU-A and Suburbs and a postponed clash against the University of Eldoret Trojans.

Pirates are now perched fifth with eight points, similar points amassed by sixth-placed Eldoret rugby club while the University of Eldoret is seventh with five points as Egerton Wasps remained at the bottom of the standings but with two matches at hand.