Kenya Cup 2023: Kabras Sugar maintain sweet taste as cream of crop, Nondies return at first time of asking

Photo credit || Kabras Sugar

Kenya Cup 2023: Kabras Sugar maintain sweet taste as cream of crop, Nondies return at first time of asking

Mark Kinyanjui 13:00 - 29.12.2023

Kabras maintained their dominance in the Kenya Cup with Kenya Harlequin bouncing back from a close shave of near-relegation in 2022 : The year that was for Kenya’s elite 15s competition,

For the second year in a row, Kabras Sugar maintained their status as the top dogs of the Kenya Cup.

The sugar men saw off archrivals KCB 19-9 to retain the title in an entertaining and very physical final played at the ASK Kakamega Showgrounds back in March to fully affirm their status as more than just one season wonders.

The Western Kenya-based outfit managed to walk their way to the title boasting an unbeaten record, having cruised their way to the 52 point mark and winning all 11 of their fixtures that season.

It was a case of deja vu for Carlos Katywa’s men, who comprehensively beat the Bankers in the final of the 2021/22 Cup, although Olago’s charges had beaten them in their final league fixture back in February 2022.

It was something similar in the Enterprise Cup as well, where both sides clashed before Kabras edged them out two years in quick succession to establish themselves as the team to beat in the post-COVID 19 world.

Kenya Harlequin were able to get to the semi finals of the Kenya Cup for the first time since the 2018/2019 season, but they fell short at the semi final stage to Kabras.

Harlequin went through a sort of transition in the build up to 2023, being lucky not to be relegated in the 2021/2022 after suffering seven consecutive defeats during the league phase of that season’s Kenya Cup campaign. 

They did however bounce back to get to the semis, and they will be hoping they can build on from there in the quest to return to the top.

Menengai Oilers also managed to reach the semi-finals of the Kenya Cup season but were bundled out in the semi final stage by eventual runners- up KCB.

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Head coach Gibson Weru will surely be pondering how he can manage to close the gap of getting the team to finally make that one last step and get to at least the final after overseeing his team practically play second fiddle to Kabras and KCB for a number of years now.

Kenyatta University’s Black Blad were also very impressive in 2023 as they managed to register a fifth place finish, having managed to beat sides like Nakuru and Homeboyz to become the country’s best Varsity Side.

Nakuru and Strathmore had enough to surpass the 20 point mark and finish comfortably in mid table.

Down the table, concerns were raised about Mwamba and Homeboyz, with both sides seemingly off the pace and missing relegation by a whisker.

Mwamba finished the regular league campaign on 19 points as Homeboyz finished on 15 points, just one ahead of Mean Machine of Nairobi University and MMUST who were rock bottom on 10 points.

Down the Championship, Nondescripts and Kisumu returned to the Kenya Cup in style, with Nondies managing to win the championship by setting a record 49 points.

The team, which has a history of 17 Kenya Cup titles and 25 Enterprise Cup titles, beat Kisumu in the final 24-6, having earned earned promotion to the Kenya Cup after winning their respective semi-final matches against South Coast Pirates and Daystar Falcons.

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