Ngong Road duo of Shamas Foundation rugby club and Impala Saracens finally registered wins in the ongoing Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) championship league set to enter the fourth round on Saturday.

Shamas coach Nick Abala told People Sports the team has worked hard for the win despite the setbacks in the opener two rounds where they only managed a losing bonus that was crucial as the win boosts their tally to tie with South Coast Pirates at 5 points tie.

“Finally after a bad start we have rediscovered the winning path and we are focused on maintaining that second-half tempo against Kabarak in the next fixtures. They are a good side and they led the match until the last minute while we were confident all through that it was a good day to win.” coach Abala said.

Host’s fullback

Kabarak led the match 11-10 but they failed to exit the ball from their half early to lose the match. The hosts’ fullback Willy Onchari encroached their opponents’ 40 with ill intentions and scored a priceless three-pointer that won the match 13-11, to the disbelief of Kabarak who dropped a place to sit third with nine points while Daystar rose to second place with 10 points.

12-team standing

Shamas and South Coast Pirates are perched eighth and ninth respectively on the 12-team standings after three rounds of action. Both sides finished last season in the top two to earn the lucrative honours to host home semifinals. However, they were shocked by visiting former Kenya Cup sides during the decisive playoffs that could have earned them their maiden Kenya Cup qualification.

This season has however been a different adventure for Shamas and South Coast Pirates who are under loads of pressure emancipating from the inclusion of bigger guns led by Nondescripts and Impala Saracens in the second tier league that includes other former Kenya Cup teams of Western Bulls, Kisumu and Eldoret. 

Impala Saracens fancied a 41-17 win over bottom-placed USIU Marshalls to bank on a bonus win that bolstered their losing bonus.