Trailing 3-22 after 34 minutes of play, Pan Africa Strathmore Leos staged a remarkable recovery, rallying to defeat Mwamba 23-22 in an enthralling Kenya Cup fixture at the Impala Club on Saturday 10 January 2015.
The Leos went ahead early through Kenny Andola’s drop but Mwamba replied almost immediately when Mark Okwaro went over with Chris Asego converting for a 7-3 lead.
Things seemed to fall apart for the Leos when Charles Omondi was yellow carded by center referee Godwin Karuga. Mwamba were rampant at this point of the match, putting the Leos under immense pressure. They inevitably went ahead, Hyke Otieno going over with Asego missing the conversion with the scores at 12-3 to the visitors.
The game seemed to be slipping away from the Leos when Asego drilled home a penalty to stretch the lead to 15-3 and when he converted Dan Sikuta’s try, the hosts looked dead and buried, trailing 22-3.
They would finally gain composure and territory towards the close of the first half, Mike Wanjala touching down to cut the deficit to 22-8 at the break and kept up the pressure on Mwamba upon resumption, eventually landing a converted try off a maul to bring the scores to 22-15.
Billy Odhiambo’s unconverted try brought the Leos to within two points of Mwamba, 22-20 the scores at this point and when Mwamba infringed late in the match, Andola elected to go for goal from the ensuing penalty. His successful goal attempt sealed the game for the Leos, 23-20 the full time score.