Women's Kenya Cup: Mwamba stage stunning comeback against Impala to lift second consecutive title

Mwamba RFC staged an incredible comeback against Impala Roans on Saturday afternoon to successfully defend their Kenya Cup title following an an exhilarating 20-21 victory in the Championship decider staged at the Impala Club.

Having trailed 17-3 by the half time break, the Joseph Baabu coached side showed grit as they put on a spirited second half performance that saw the team get over the line in the game that was certainly a tale of two halves.

With the victory, Mwamba clinched their second consecutive title in what was the second edition of the women's Kenya Cup as they had defeated Impala for a second time after their 15-11 win in the inaugural edition held last season.

"We started the game without three of our key players today who we had prepared with and were the strongest for us in midfield. But we had to make the changes where instability came in. But again, that's where the mental part played a big part than the body.

At half time, we had a talk and reminded ourselves that we were the defending champions and so we had to fight if we wanted to defend that title. I must say we were fortunate as Impala were a very good team and they were all out for the trophy," Baabu said.

After an even start to the game, it is the spirited Mwamba who would get the scoreboard up and running as their sustained pressure early on forced an infringement out of Impala inside their own 22m line.

Having elected to go for points, fullback Diana Omosso stepped up and successfully split the uprights with the penalty to give the defending champions a 0-3 lead in the opening ten minutes.

That converted penalty however appeared to have awakened Impala who gradually grew into the game as they gained control of more and more possession.

After a period of sustained territorial dominance, the Mary Otieno coached side managed to restore parity through a penalty of their own that was converted by Anne Koki.

That proved to be a momentous period in the clash as it drove even more belief to Impala who set out in search of the game's first try as they pushed deeper into Mwamba territory.

Minutes to the half time break, the team would benefit from a costly Mwamba error as one of the opponents thought she had touched down the ball inside her own try line to kill the play but that was not the case with the officials calling for a knock on that led to an Impala scrum inside just metres out.

Nairobi City Stars dragnet nabs match fixers; Russian, Ugandan among trio arrested in Roysambu

Michelle Akinyi managed to get on the end of the scrum move and Koki successfully converted the effort to give Impala a first time advantage as they led 10-3.

In the last play of the first half, a moment of brilliance from Zipporah Wabba helped the home team open up a fourteen point advantage as her clever grabber kick caused problems to the retreating Mwamba defensive line which ended up in another error as a Mwamba player once again failed to kill play, the charging Diana Awino duly touching down beneath the posts as Koki converted to give Impala a 17-3 lead at the interval.

In the second half, Mwamba who ended the game short on ideas came out of the blocks the quickest as Omosso converted her second penalty to reduce the deficit to 17-6.

Shortly after, Stacy Atieno singlehandedly brought Mwamba back in contention as she bulldozed her way over the line for her team's first try as she manage to finally breach an Impala defense that had managed to keep them out. With Omosso missing the conversion, Mwamba reduced the game to 17-11 going into the second half water break.

A penalty awarded to Impala however helped the hosts to open a nine point gap as Koki converted to take the scores to 20-11.

But another penalty, this time awarded to Mwamba and converted by Omosso set up the game for an exciting last twelve minutes as only six points was the difference.

Is Mandonga really planning to have two fights in a week?

Smelling blood, Mwamba engaged with everything they had as they searched for a converted try that would swing the advantage to their side.

After a period of sustained pressure inside the Impala 5m line, the team finally saw their efforts bear fruit when centre referee awarded them a penalty try for repeated Impala indiscipline that ended up costing them as Mwamba sealed the dramatic 20-21 comeback victory.