Kenya Harlequins bagged their first win of the season beating the Menengai Oilers 25-15 at the RFUEA Grounds on 23rd November 2019. Heading into this week(5), Quins was the only side lacking a win a performance that saw them sit at the bottom of the table. In their last two fixtures, the blew away their half time leads losing 21-19 and 25-18 to Western Bulls and Top Fry Nakuru respectively.
Herman Humwa was first on the scoresheet in the first five minutes of the match as he fended off his defender to go over the whitewash. Lyle Asiligwa added the extras for an early 7-0 Quins’ lead. Four minutes later an infringement by the Quartered shirts saw Menengai Oilers’ Abutwalib Wesonga slice the posts with a penalty kick, scoreboard now reading 7-3 in favour of the hosts.
Brighton Mwalawa was next on the try scorers’ list as he cut through the weak Oilers’ defense line to land a center post try that was successfully converted by Lyle. Moments later and Quins maintaining their perfect start in the match, a kick and chase off Lyle’s boot saw the ball bounce in Quins’ favour inside the in-goal area as Herman Humwa grounded it. Lyle’s conversion drifting wide.
Oilers would get their first try as Aziz Annan went over the whitewash at the corner, the conversion was unsuccessful. Failure to release the ball by Oilers’ got them penalized and Lyle added an extra three points for the hosts for a 22-8 Half Time score.
Second half Oilers added seven points off a center post try and a successful conversion while the Habimana charges kicked in one penalty for a 25-15 full time score.
“Our defense worked for us today and it has been our biggest challenges in these past weeks. We looked at all our challenges and realized our defense was very predictable so heading into this match, we worked on making it difficult for our opponent to attack us,” said Dominique Habimana.
At the KCB Sports Club, the Bankers survived a scare from the Deejayz to continue their unbeaten run with their 27-24 win. KCB were trailing 8-14 at the breather but their second half won it for them. Stanbic Mwamba picked upa bonus point beating Nondies 27-17 at the Railway Club.
In Kakamega, Western Bulls suffered a 10-23 loss to Top Fry Nakuru while Kenya Cup leaders Kabras RFC beat Blakblad 57-3 at the Kakamega Showgrounds. Resolution Impala Saracens left the Mamboleo Showgrounds having collected maximum points as they handed hosts Kisumu RFC 41-5.