Oilers chasing elusive glory in Floodlit with Blad their next obstacle

Menengai Oilers are chasing glory in the ongoing Floodlit tournament after recent near misses both in the national league Kenya Cup and the National Sevens Circuit.

Head coach Gibson Weru says they had a disappointing sevens campaign where they didn’t win a single leg.

“We were a bit disappointed with the sevens, we came so close on a few occasions but we couldn’t win but it's something we feel as a team we could’ve performed better.  I think the whole squad believes that this is the right time to start putting those trophies in our cabinet and the boys are extremely eager to make sure that we start on the right footing.

“So, we are looking forward to winning the tournament but we cannot win the tournament without first having to win our game on Saturday and it's something we are preparing well to achieve.”

Weru will be leading his charges this Saturday in their Floodlit semi-final tie against giant slayers Blak Blad who punched their semis ticket by seeing off record winners KCB 9-8 last weekend at the Impala club.

“Blak Blad will be very tough because they are a team that plays with a lot of psyche and I’m sure they have a huge fanbase in Nairobi so I think it will be a different challenge as compared to what we faced against Catholic Monks. We are looking at controlling the tempo of the game; our set pieces will be huge for us because that’s where the game starts, so we will put a lot of emphasis on that so that we will be able to dominate from there on,” he added.

The Nakuru-based side will be hoping to replicate the good performance they showed in their quarter final match against Catholic Monks but Weru says Blak Blad are a hard nut to crack.

“It will be a tough match and I think whoever settles early will have a chance to win the match. For us it's extremely important for us to win this game because we have played second fiddle for a long time and we want now to move to the next level.”

Hosts Impala RFC who knocked out Mwamba RFC will battle Nondescripts in the other semifinal.

In the varsity category, Daystar Falcons will face off Rift Varsities while Kabete Stallions go to battle against Impala Boks.

Impala Roans will be up against Northern Suburbs while Mwamba ladies play NYS ladies in the lady’s category semifinals.