Kangaru in roaring start to title defence

Kangaru in roaring start to title defence

Powerhouse Kangaru High School started their quest to retain their basketball and rugby 15s titles on a high note as the Eastern region school games kicked off on Wednesday in earnest in Kangaru, Embu County.

In rugby, the hosts overpowered Kitui County champions Kitui School 47-0 in their opening match on a muddy ground to announce their intention of storming to the quarters in style.

Kangaru who earned a semis appearance at last year’s nationals will tomorrow (Thursday) face Ikuu Boys of Tharaka Nithi County who walloped Kitui School 57-3 in their opening match. Kitui now face a huge task in their bid to qualify for the quarters.

Speaking with the Citizen Digital, Kangaru head coach Benson Mwenda expressed surprise at how they “easily” saw off Kitui while also expressing his optimistic of retaining the title.

“In our pool, we feared Kitui the most but after beating them with such a crushing margin I’m confident we can qualify for the quarters,” he said, adding that, “we should be worried about Ikuu.”

Mwenda noted that this year’s competition will be very tough with many new faces emerging.

“We used to fear Machakos School but they are no more and we have new faces like Muvuti Boys and Matungulu whom I think will be the teams to watch this year.”

Meanwhile, Kangaru School who are also the basketball reigning champions had a flying start in their title defence narrowly beating Kitui County champions Nguutani 31-28.

The hosts won the first quarter easily by an 8-2margin, with the rejuvenated opponents making it 9-9 in the second quarter and 10-10 in the third quarter, but the seasoned Kangaru made it 7-4 in the fourth and the final quarter to see off the energetic Kitui side, in their first pool ‘D’ matches.

In a post-match interview, Kangaru basketball head coach Njiru Munya said his charges, despite the narrow win, will do better in the subsequent preliminaries.

“We have some issues in the defence and I must work on the mistakes before we face our next opponents,” said Munya.

On the same court, 2009 champions Meru School started their journey to reclaim the title by winning their pool ‘A’ match downing emerging stars, Lukenya Boys of Machakos County  40-37 while also thrashing Kiriani Boys of Tharaka Nithi 80-18.

 

Tags:

Embu County. Kangaru Eastern region school games roaring start Kangaru High School to title defence

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories