Leos pile onto Kisii’s relegation nightmare

Kisii RFC relegation worries inched closer to reality on Saturday afternoon after they fell 14-21 to Strathmore Leos at the Gusii Stadium.

With two rounds of matches to go, the outcome puts Kisii, on 11 points, under a lot of pressure and they will have to beat Kenya Harlequins to have a fighting chance of retaining their top-tier status.

At the Gusii Stadium, Strathmore came out guns blazing with two converted tries from John Oduk but the hosts could not take it lying down with the Nick Abok charges responding with similar scores through Aggrey Kitoi before halftime.

With a lot at stake, the game was fiercely contested with each side throwing caution to the wind.

Soon after halftime, the students picked from where they left with Clinton Ombunye crossing over the whitewash two times to set up the score at 21-14.

The scores remained the same to keep Strathmore hopes of a playoffs spot alive. Kisii have a fighting chance and will have to win their next game against Kenya Harlequins, an uphill task, if they are to survive.

Mombasa, on other-other hand, placed bottom of the Kenyan Cup log, have already been relegated.

Meanwhile, in the nationwide Central region, Mount Kenya University (Thika) and Embu RFC kept their quest for promotion to the Championship alive after recording victories in their matches.

MKU edged out Zetech University 18-5 with MKU captain, the burly Bob Muhati inspiring the team with a hat-trick at the Happy Valley grounds, Nanyuki.

MKU were the first to go under the posts with Muhati running over three Zetech defender’s to score a beauty of a try.

Clearly having a good afternoon, Muhati ran 50 metres to score after side- stepping the Zetech full-back, in a move that also involved fly-half Mike Ogunga. Leroy Kamau, however, missed both conversions heading to the break.

Unperturbed, Joseph Kangethe was at hand, scoring the third try for MKU after the break and Leroy was this time spot on with the conversion.

Zetech scored their consolation through Charles Kamau but it was not enough, with the game ending 18-5.

Embu, on the other hand, managed a 33-0 convincing victory over Muranga in an entertaining game.

Dennis Mwangi and Alex Kimundiu each scored a hat-trick. Mwangi also slotted a penalty after an infringement from the Embu defenders.

Embu and MKU will most likely meet at the Central finals next month to determine the winner of region before proceeding to Championship