Kwale holds its collective breath as home team Coast Pirates fight to evade the chop

South Coast Pirates are hopeful of evading relegation from the top-tier rugby league, the Kenya Cup, despite being rock bottom of the table.

The Kwale county-based team has struggled coping up with the high intensity of the game at the top tier but head coach Kevin Amiani says all hope isn’t lost with two rounds of matches left in the regular league before the playoffs.

“Basically, we are last on the log, that’s how the situation is; if the league was to end today, then it means we are back to the championship. We have two tough matches, this weekend we are playing away to Nondies and then next weekend we are hosting Menengai Oilers at home (Seacrest ground, Ukunda).

“We are still believing that we can get a point in each of the matches, and if you look at the log closely, if a team can get maximum points before the end of the league, then they have a chance of survival. So, we just keep the fighting spirit and see how it ends.”

He explained further. “The fight is still on; we believe we can stay and so it means if we can get four points somewhere, we might stand a chance of staying in the league.”

Pirates will have to tackle a Nondescripts side that has proven a hard nut to crack this season as well as Menengai Oilers who have only lost once, against KCB RFC, last weekend.

Amiani however says they won’t be fazed by their narrow prospects and “will give their all” to avoid the axe back to the Championship.

“At the moment you don’t change much, we just keep the boys motivated and keep them believing in the dream. We all know how difficult it is to come up again and now that we have a chance to stay, then we have to take our chances,” he said. “When you’re fighting a relegation side, is tougher than playing a team that wants to win the league,  I’m sure even the Oilers know they are in the playoff positions, so maybe they might choose to come here with their second team just to give their best players a rest because they’ve already secured a playoff position.”

Their toughest test will be against Nondies who are out to secure a home semi-final tie in the playoffs as Oilers have already booked their slot having lost just one match thus far.