Kabras RFC Coach Kyatwa sums up the season as interesting

Kabras RFC ended the regular season in thrilling fashion when they narrowly beat the Menengai Oilers 15-13 at the Kakamega Showground on Saturday. The Sugarmen were in no mood to play around this season and won all their matches.

Commenting on the season, Kabras RFC Carlos Kyatwa noted that they got off to a sluggish start, attributing it to the transition. Most of their senior players were absent during the preseason due to the repechage. Additionally, the side lacked some of its players in the regular season due to the ongoing World Series. Among these important figures are Kevin Wekesa and Brian Tanga.

"For us, we started slowly. It was an issue of transition, and we did not have most of our senior players in the off-season because of the repechage. We also struggled a bit because the youngsters were being brought into the play and it takes a while to adapt. As we continued into the season, we started putting things together," he said.

"It was a season of two halves; we enjoyed the better part of the season where everything of ours was coming into play properly, combinations were combining,".

Similar to their match against KCB RFC last weekend, Coach Kyatwa blamed the tough encounter with the Oilers on sloppy lineouts. According to the coach, the lineouts were wasting Jone Kubu and Ntabeni Dukisa’s kicking masterclasses. The Oilers were leading for the better part of the game. The scores were 10-8 at halftime. Kabras would come back in the second half and score to take the lead before the game was halted.

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Also, part of Sugarmen's point of weakness in their match against KCB was a change in momentum. He, however, lauded his charges for working on that during the week, and also defense, noting that anyone from Kabras RFC is now eligible to participate in the Kenya Cup. The young players have assimilated with the youngsters, and only time will reveal their excellence.

"We were defending very well as a unit; the connection was there, and the line speed was there. Regarding the change of momentum, I think we did it very well in this game. Currently, we have a big issue in the lineouts that is something very new, so it is quite disappointing for us as well because we have had a good season of good lineouts, but the last three games have seen us suffer quite a number of losses in our lineouts."

"Especially with Jone Kubu and Ntabeni Dukisa giving us 50-22, we are not utilizing that quite a lot."

Heading to the semi-finals, Kyatwa assured fans that the players would not treat it like the regular season. They would work on key areas like defense and introduce key players in order to defeat the Kenya Harlequins and qualify for the finals.

"Semis will be a little different. We will not be approaching it like the regular season. We will approach it like a test match, so scoreboard pressure is very important in any playoff. It is up to us to go all in and ensure that the set pieces are working. We will bring in our key players just to finish off on a high note."

The defending Kenya Cup Champions will welcome 2010 Kenya Cup Champions Kenya Harlequins for the semi-finals at the Kakamega Showground on Saturday 4.

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