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Sugar millers have ended Kenya's top-flight rugby division unbeaten.
Kabras Sugar RFC finally exorcised the ghosts of losing to KCB RFC in five straight Kenya Cup finals to claim their maiden back to back title after clinching the 2022-2023 Cup unbeaten following a thrilling hard fought 19-9 win.
Kabras arrived into the final with a 100% record after obliterating every team in the regular season and making light work of Kenya Harlequins in the semis to punch their sixth final against their sworn enemies KCB RFC.
The Bankers on the other hand were a wounded lion after finishing the 2021-2022 season trophy less and were looking to redeem themselves especially after the loss to the Sugar Millers during the regular season.
The squad selection mind games were at play when players took to the field as Jone Kubu and George Nyambua who were named on the bench started for Kabras with Carlos Katywa pulling a masterclass that would have made Jose Mourinho proud from wherever he is in Rome.
Kick off was delayed for about five minutes due to safety reasons with the thousands of fans who had filled the Kakamega Showground to the rafters ordered to move away from technical benches.
The Sugar Millers drew first blood in the final after Fijian-born Kenyan, Jone Kubu kicked a simple penalty from just infront of the sticks after KCB were caught offside as he made no mistake to put Kabras 3-0 ahead inside the opening 10 minutes.
The game slumped into a lull that was marred by a number of stoppages as both teams fought tooth and nail to cross whitewash with KCB's celebration cut short in the 32nd minute when Johnston Olindi was held up in the try box after a brilliant cross field kick from Darmin Mukidza.
The ever impressive Ntabeni Dukisa could not find his kicking boots in the final as he missed a kick in the opening 15 minutes and again saw his penalty sail wide with the last piece of action in the first half as Kabras went into the break with a slender 3-0 lead.
Kabras were forced to change their strips at the start of the second half with KCB's white jerseys turning to brown following a grueling first half which meant that their kits were almost similar to Kabras with the Sugar Millers now donning their black and green shirts.
Carlos Katywa's side had a mirror start to the second half as KCB were penalized for not rolling away with Dukisa finally getting his kick spot on to extend Kabras' lead to six but KCB issued an instant riposte two minutes later through the trusted boot of Darwin Mukidza to half the deficit to 6-3.
Kabras kept the scoreboard ticking with another penalty from Dukisa just infront of the sticks to restore their six-point lead but the see-saw game saw KCB whittle the hosts lead to just three points courtesy of a penalty from Mukidza.
The irrepressible Mukidza singlehandedly clawed back KCB into the game with a challenging kick from the half way line that split the sticks to level the scores at 9-9.
After a number of KCB infringements in the scrum from the five meter line, referee Victor Oduor was fed up and handed Kabras a penalty try to register the game's first try of the game as the Sugar Millers now lead 16-9.
Brian Tanga broke lose but was hacked down courtesy of a high tackle with Dukisa adding the three points as Kabras withered a late storm from KCB to win the title.
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