Lenana crash out, Upper Hill stun 'Dago' as Nairobi Term One Games hit climax

The Lenana Maroons suffered a 19-7 loss to Nairobi School who finally got one up on the champions following recent years of heartache.

In the semi-final clash, Lenana drew first blood through Nigel Okoko who scored a brilliant try with Sam Wekesa converting to lead 7-0.

Nairobi responded through Jeff Munene but Henry Kebaso failed to convert, leaving the score line at 7-5 in favour of Lenana going into the half-time break.

Second half produced a different show with Nairobi School producing an incredible comeback as Oide Adan and Marcus Mwenda’s tries launched an astonishing turnaround for the Patch Matchine.

Bannis Mayobi made no mistake in converting to give Patch a huge win against their bitter rivals as they pulled the plug on their bid for a second successive title.

It was a sweet revenge for Nairobi School after Lenana School humiliated them 29-10 in last year’s semi-final clash.

“We were hungry to win, we planned well, executed our plan and won the match. We really put in a lot of work after last year’s defeat. I’m happy my boys followed the instructions, were patient enough and eventually won,” Nairobi school head coach Micheal Oyuach told Citizen Digital.

Captain Marcus Mwenda was over the moon after their hard-fought victory highlighting their urge to bag this year’s title.

“We are happy for the win, we worked our way here. We are going into the final with the aim of lifting the title and we’ll leave nothing to chance,” said a confident Mwenda.

Another block-buster semi-final clash saw powerhouses Upper Hill stun Dagoretti High 19-03, booking their second successive final.

The former champions got off the canvas through Abdul Zubris who tossed past Dagoretti’s High players to score their first try with Benjamin Eceru brilliantly converting to make the scoreline 7-0 before halftime.

Eceru had earlier squandered a penalty to put Upper Hill in front in the game that Upper Hill had a slow start.

Second half produced a similar show as Upper Hill dominated with Livingston Odhiambo scoring two tries with Eceru again converting one to hand last year’s runners-up a 19-03 win against Dagoretti.

Upper Hill could have done more humiliation to their opponents had Eceru not squandered a penalty and Lloyd Sine failing to convert Odhiambo’s third try in the dying embers of the game.

Alvin Abili scored Dagoretti’s only consolation penalty.

Upper Hill’s head coach Newton Mose lauded his charges for their emphatic win, noting they were going to put in an impressive shift to clinch the national’s ticket.

“We started off on a bad foot but I’m happy the boys grew into the game and won. We moved the ball well, identified spaces and avoided contact points,” said Mose.

“It was painful to lose last year’s final and this year we are going to put our best foot forward to bag the regional gong. We are going to work on our kicks and ensure we do everything perfectly.”  

A nail-biting clash awaits on Saturday as both teams look to reclaim the Rugby 15 title and represent the regional at the nationals which will take place in Mombasa.

In hockey, reigning boys’ champions Nairobi School relinquished their title following their 3-1 loss to Starehe Boys in post-match penalties following a 0-0 draw in a nail-biting quarter final clash.

The tightly-contested tie saw both teams miss glorious chances but it was Starehe who calmly scored their spot-kicks to send the defending champions home.

In other contests Lenana stunned Mwiki 1-0 while Highway strolled past Upper Hill in a 2-1 win. Hospital Hill received a walkover after Hillcrest withdrew from the match.

The semi-final stage is set as Highway will clash with Hospital Hill as Lenana take on Starehe.

In the girls' contest, reigning champions Pangani stunned Starehe 6-2 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Mwiki Secondary, a repeat of last year’s final. 

Mwiki whitewashed Mt. Lavena 6-0 and will be looking for revenge when the two sides clash on Friday.