IMPALA FLOODLIT MATCH DAY TWO PREVIEW
By Louis Kisia
Tomorrow marks the second day of the Impala Floodlight tournament semi-finals stage, with eight teams expected to

battle it out in this fifteens contest. Defending Champions Mwamba take on hosts Impala in the last senior teams match

of the day from 8:00 pm, only a few hours after Quins will have played KCB at 6:00 pm in the other semi-finals.

The other two semi-finals will pit the Junior U-20’s who replaced the schools category in this year’s Floodlights. Quins

entertain Strathmore University in the day’s first match from 2:00 pm, while Mwamba takes on Impala from 3:30 pm. 

In the seniors category it will be a big blow to Mwamba who will miss the services of their four Internationals that were

key to their success in last week’s win against Strathmore. Humphrey Khayange, Collins Injera, Lavin Asego and Horace

otieno are all expected to travel with the Sevens team due to depart on Sunday, for the seventh and eighth legs of the

I.R.B World Series. Though they welcome back the big number eight George Mbaye to the team, after missing the first

leg while away in Morocco for the annual Tangier Sevens with the National Team.

Impala on the other hand will be a full house with the return of Nato Simiyu, Naphtali Bondo and Peter Ocholla who

were all with Sevens Team that reached the semi finals of the Tangier Sevens last week, and missed the first match

versus Nakuru. They will only be without Brian Nyikuli who travels with the Sevens Team but inspirational Innocent

Simiyu will be available. KCB will be the same team that beat Mean machine last week but welcomes back the services

of winger Benjamin Otieno, who is back from the Tangiers Sevens Tour. Quins who recently contracted former Mwamba

Utility back row Victor oduor will miss his services, together with those of Sydney Ashioya, Allan Onyango and Victor

Sudi who are also expected to depart with the Sevens team.

IMPALA FLOODLIGHTS KICKS OFF LEAGUE CALENDAR

By Louis Kisia
The long awaited season kicks off this weekend with the Impala Floodlights Rugby Tournament taking centre

stage as the season opener. It will back to top flight rugby for clubs who have all had an ample time to prepare

for the long fifteens season. The season that normally starts in early February was pushed to such date to give room

to the just concluded IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy. Moreover it was intended to reduce or rather avoid the clash

with the International calendar.This year's Floodlight tournament has seen the eight clubs that will feature in the Kenya

Cup League grouped into two pools of four teams each, while the schools category has been done off with due to the

difference in the calendars. The draw that was done over the weekend at Impala grounds has placed defending

champions Mwamba, hosts Impala, Nakuru and Strathmore University in the same pool while last year's runners up

Quins, Nondies, Mean-Machine and KCB complete the other four.

The tournament runs for the entire month and will be played on a knock-out basis with other matches taking place

during the day at both the Impala and RFUEA grounds. The defending champions Mwamba, who recently got shirt

sponsors from H2O, take on Strathmore in the last match of the day at the Impala grounds from 7:30 PM but not before

Impala entertain Nakuru in an earlier encounter at the same venue. In the other pool Quins who were last year's

runners up play Nondies but after KCB entertains Mean-Machine in an earlier encounter at the RFUEA grounds

with both matches taking place during the day.It will be interesting to see how clubs perform with all their Sevens

Internationals present; Mwamba will benefit the most with the inclusion of all its five Sevens stars led by this

year's IRB top try scorer Collins Injera.