St. Patrick’s High School Iten and Kabianga High will renew their rivalry in a repeat of the 2019 rugby 15s final when they clash in Pool 'D' of the Rift Valley Secondary Schools Sports Association games starting Wednesday morning in Eldoret.
Kabianga, of Kericho, beat their Elgeyo Marakwet opponents 12-10 to win the regional title in 2019.
The two will be joined by St. Anthony’s Kitale (Trans Nzoia county), who are making a name for themselves in rugby after dominating the football circles.
St. Patrick’s coach Bernard Indasi said the pool as 'group of death’. The Rift Valley championships brings together 14 counties, the biggest in the country after the nationals.
“This will be one of the toughest and most competitive pools at the championships. We lost 12-10 to Kabianga in the last minutes of the 2019 final,” said Indasi.
He said that he has prepared the boys very well knowing what awaits them at the championships.
Indasi will be depending on Maxwell Shigali and Bob Oraye to produce the goods as they eye a slot at the national championships.
“We have a strong team that we hope will dominate the region. Our target is to play at the national championships,” said Indasi.
Pool 'A' has Kapsabet Boys (Uasin Gishu), Ortum (West Pokot) and Kilgoris (Narok) while Nanyuki High (Laikipia) Jomo Kenyatta (Nakuru and Kajiado's Ngong Township are in Pool 'B'. Pool 'C' has St. Michael Kipsombe (Uasin Gishu) Kabarnet High (Baringo) and Longisa (Bomet).
East African girls' handball champions St. Joseph’s Kitale (Trans Nzoia) will start their title defence against Sosiot from Kericho in a Pool 'D' that also has Narok’s Chebotoik.
Head coach Maureen Sitati has set her eyes on reclaiming the regional title in Burundi come the end of the year after dominating proceedings in Tanzania last year.
“We are already on our journey to defend our title. We still have the same team and our focus will be to retain the title,” she said.
Pool 'A' has Uasin Gishu champions Cheptegit, Nakuru's Murunduko, Motiret from Bomet and Baringo’s Kiptuno.
Pool 'B' consists of Ndururumo of Laikipia, Kajiado’s Oloiborsoit and Sing’ore from Elgeyo Marakwet.
In Pool 'C' are Nasokol from West Pokot, Nandi's St. Benedict Kipsamoite, AIC Moi Girls (Samburu) and Nawoitorong of Turkana.
Also to feature at the games is boys' handball, hockey and basketball as well as girls' hockey and basketball.