Oilers, Kabras renew rivalry in Enterprise Cup

Menengai Oilers players battle with Kabras Sugar RFC during the finals of the Great Rift 10 Aside at Nakuru Athletics Club on April 20, 2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

This will be the third final between the two teams in less than three weeks.

Kabras won the Kenya Cup, while Oilers claimed the Great Rift 10s title.

Great Rift 10-a-side champions Menengai Oilers are ready to keep their winning streak when they take on Kenya Cup champions Kabras Sugar in the finals of the Enterprise Cup at ASK Nakuru Showground this afternoon (4pm).

Oilers, who defeated Kabras Sugar 15-0 in the Great Rift 10s at Nakuru Athletic Club last weekend, boasted of winning that final with their second squad.

"If we could beat them (Kabras) with our second team, what will happen if we play against them with our first team?" questioned Oilers assistant coach Ben Kamau.

He said this year was their best season so far, and they were not ready to lose their winning streak now in the fight for top honours.

"We have a well-oiled Oilers machine made of hard work with dependable players in all departments. We are determined to maintain our winning streak this afternoon," Kamau added.

It'll be the third time the two teams will be facing off in the finals of crucial tournaments in less than three weeks.

When they met in the finals of the Kenya Cup, Kabras Sugar had the last laugh with a narrow 27-26 win over Oilers.

However, when they met in the finals of the Great Rift 10-a-side at Nakuru Athletic Club last weekend, Oilers carried the day with a well-deserved 15-0 win over the millers.

"They'll not have it easy again in the Enterprise Cup finals. Today (last Sunday), my players made obvious mistakes, which of course resulted in several blunders that will not be repeated," Kabras assistant coach Okello Meso said after their defeat last weekend.

Without revealing the strategies, they could use to overturn tables on their opponents or if any of their dependable players are on the injury list, the Kabras tactician reiterated the need to wrestle the Enterprise title for a fifth time.

"We'll do all in our means with the squads we have to snatch away the second title this season ahead of other forthcoming tournaments," said Meso.

Kabras Sugar has won the cup four times, and they are keen to extend their reign.

It'll be the 86th Enterprise Cup final to be hosted in Nakuru for over five decades since August 8, 1964, when defending champions Simon David 'Lofty' Reynolds took on Keith McGuiness' Kenya Harlequins' at Nakuru Athletic Club.

If Oilers win the cup, it'll be the third club from Nakuru city to clinch the title after the original NAC rugby club, who won it four times in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1963, and Nakuru RFC in 2008 and 2014.

The 102-year-old Nondescripts stands out as the only Kenyan side to have won the Enterprise Cup with 25 titles on its shoulders in a competition that was inaugurated by HMS Enterprise in September 1928.

Yesterday, Kamau said morale was high after the Great Rift win and that they were lucky not to have had any injuries so far.

"With no injuries and our first squad, the sky is the limit," he said.

Some of their dependable players they expect to field this afternoon include Samuel Mwaura, Timothy Okwemba, Charles Osgood, and Ibrahim Ayoo.