National rugby 15's champions All Saints Embu will renew rivalry with Kisii School as the two schools clash in the semifinals of the Brookside KSSSA Term One Games today in Mombasa.
All Saints won all their matches to top Pool A, while Kisii School came from behind to beat Friends School Bwake 15-3 for second place in Pool B. In their last group stage game, All Saints beat Mang’u 11-7 to maintain their 100 per record.
In the other semi-final, Vihiga Boys will face Nairobi’s Upper Hill. Vihiga completed their Pool B games with a comfortable 33-6 win over Coast champions Marafa on Thursday. Vihiga, under coach Abdalla Abubakar, have so far won all their games and finished top of Group B.
Upper Hill beat Coast’s Serani 11-7 in a closely contested game to finish second in Pool A.
All Saints coach Benson Mwenda said his charges are ready to face familiar foes Kisii. “We have played Kisii before, and we know them. I expect a tough game, but we came here to defend the title. The boys are settled,” said Mwenda. He added: “I have a couple of injuries, but I hope the players will be fit for the semi-final,” added Mwenda. In last year’s group stage game, All Saints beat Kisii 6-3.
Kisii’s Edwin Morara said they have achieved their target of reaching the semi-finals. In the last two editions, we lost at the group stage, but this time, we have progressed to the semi-finals,” he said.
He added: “Revenge will not be in our mind. We just want to play our game because in semi semi-final, anything can happen. We want to beat All Saints and qualify for the finals. It’s doable," he said. On the final group stage match, Morara said: “It was a closely contested and balanced game. We wanted it more than Bwake.”
