It is now or never! Coach Du Plessis rallies Kabras

Kabras Sugar Rugby Club coach Henley Du Plessis (right) and assistant coach Edwin Achayo during their training session on May 16, 2019 at Kakamega Showground. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The two sides first met in the finals during the 2014/2015 season where KCB triumphed 22-3, before Kabras lifted the title for the first time beating Impala in 2015/2016 final.
  • “They know how to manipulate space and attack the space.”

Kabras Sugar Rugby coach Henley Du Plessis on Thursday said that it is now or never for his charges as they face champion Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in Kenya Cup rugby league final on Saturday.

Du Plessis said that it will only be fair for Kabras to toss to their second Kenya Cup success at Kakamega Showground, having now reached the fifth consecutive final.

“We can’t wait for another season and if we fail to do it this season then it will be the same story next year,” said Du Plessis. “You can’t get to the end of the line always then you capitulate.”

Kabras Sugar have reached all Kenya Cup finals in the past five season, but only won it once in 2015/2016 when they beat Impala 22-5 in the final. They lost all their three finals to KCB.

Du Plessis rallied his charges to take advantage of the home ground and focus on 80 minutes of hard rugby for victory.

“We don’t need to focus on Enterprise final against Impala next weekend but Kenya Cup, that is the ultimate title,” said Du Plessis. “It will take my players a long time to recover if we don’t do it this time around.”

Du Plessis acknowledged that they have been under pressure to deliver from the start of the season especially considering that this is their fifth consecutive Cup final.

“Everything has worked well for us this year. We wanted to reach the final and now we are focusing on going all the way,”

The South African coach noted that after going for 10 matches unbeaten, they decided to change their game plan against KCB during the regular season, which backfired in the end losing 44-20.

“We played into KCB’s hand when we adopted their direct style of play. That didn’t work and we have now resorted to our indirect style. We shall run out KCB and be cautious in the last minutes,” said Du Plessis, adding that they have now brought in new ideas on how to manipulate attack and tighten their defence.

“Our structures of interplay between our forwards and back while moving the ball around the pitch is working well. This is the kind of rugby my players enjoy,” said Du Plessis, who singled out his utility back Philip Wokorach and forward Dan Sikuta as players to watch out for.

“They know how to manipulate space and attack the space.”

However, Du Plessis reckons that KCB is a good side and will come out with their physicality. “They boost of many senior players, which has really helped them a lot and have a strong bench too. They are pretty strong in the last 10 minutes where they beat us last time.”

The two sides first met in the finals during the 2014/2015 season where KCB triumphed 22-3 before Kabras lifted the title for the first time beating Impala in 2015/2016 final.