Kenya Cup set for November 25 start
KCB players celebrate lifting the Kenya Cup trophy on April 22, 2017 after beating Kabras 36-8 in the final at KCB Sports Club. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- The 2017-2018 Kenya Cup season will kick-off on Saturday, November 25 and run for 14 weeks, the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) revealed on Monday.
- This season, the competition will be played in a one-off format to accommodate the late start of the World Rugby Sevens, and give Kenya Simbas adequate time to qualify for World Cup qualifiers slated for June next year.
- The concluded season saw the 12 Kenya Cup teams being pooled into two conferences of six sides each with teams playing each other in their respective conferences before shifting to play the other teams from other conference in the 19-week season.
The 2017-2018 Kenya Cup season will kick-off on Saturday, November 25 and run for 14 weeks, the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) revealed on Monday.
This season, the competition will be played in a one-off format to accommodate the late start of the World Rugby Sevens, and give Kenya Simbas adequate time to qualify for World Cup qualifiers slated for June next year.
The concluded season saw the 12 Kenya Cup teams being pooled into two conferences of six sides each with teams playing each other in their respective conferences before shifting to play the other teams from other conference in the 19-week season.
The upcoming season will have no home and away matches with top two teams automatically qualifying for the semi-finals, while the number 3 to 6 finishers heading to the quarterfinals to determine the two other semi-finals.
The top two teams will have home advantage during the final. However for the 2018-2019 season, the Kenya Cup will go back to the two conferences format.
Champions KCB, Kabras, Homeboyz, Quins, Impala, Mwamba, Nakuru, Strathmore, Nondies and Blak Blad will be joined in the Kenya Cup next season by Kisii RFC and Mombasa RFC.
The league will take a Christmas break after week four on Saturday, December 16, while a second break is scheduled for March 3, 2018.
The season is scheduled to end on March 24. The Championship will continue till late April and will conclude when the Kenya Cup teams will be contesting the Enterprise Cup final.
KCB beat champions Kabras Sugar 36-8 to lift the 2016/2017 Kenya Cup title. It was KCB’s fifth Cup success after 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2015 and club coach Curtis Olago is eyeing another successful campaign.
KCB also lifted the Enterprise Cup after a 27-23 win over Kabras to complete the double.
“The short season means that it will be a tough outing and there will be no room for error. Everyone will be baying for our blood but we are up to the challenge,” Olago said on Monday.
Mean Machine and Western Bulls were relegated to the Championship which will retain the two- conferences format.
In the championship, six teams in each Conference will play home and away within their conferences and a one-off against each team in the other conference.
Concerning match officials, Kenya Rugby Referees Society announced that the pool of elite referees had increased from six refs to 12.
