South Coast Pirates still eyeing promotion despite ‘Hemingways derby’ loss

South Coast Pirates coach Kevin Amiani has refused to let Saturday’s narrow loss against KRU Championship leaders Nondies RFC demoralise his team.

Instead, he insists that they will still do everything they can to maintain the momentum that has seen them become one of the division’s outstanding sides this season.

The 22-17 loss against Nondies saw the Diani based side drop to fourth in the standings as they push to make the playoffs and earn the opportunity to play in Kenya’s premier rugby division.

South Coast Pirates who came into the match as underdogs put up one of their best performances this season against a Nondies side who are still unbeaten and were seconds away from handing the league leaders their first defeat of the season in a match that had been dubbed the ‘Hemingways Derby’, as both sides are sponsored by the luxury boutique hotel chain, Hemingways.

In the sweltering South Coast heat, Pirates conceded a last minute penalty try to lose a match that they almost ran away with.

According to Coach Amiani, the manner in which they lost the game was heart-breaking but there are still plenty of positives to take from the result.

“We were so close to getting a great result but it just was not meant to be. We will not focus on the result for too long. There are a lot of things we learnt from the match- both good and bad and we will work on them in training this week,” explained Amiani.

South Coast Pirates had taken the lead in the 79th minute after a brilliant break away by star-man Collins Kabayo.

The giant lock evaded desperate attempts to tackle him by the Nondies backline, to score what looked like a winning try only for Nondies to snatch the win via a penalty try straight from the resulting kick off.

According to Kabayo, the result was a reflection of all the hard work the team has been putting in on the training ground.

“We have seen just how much we can achieve if we continue dedicating ourselves to our goals. Yes, we might have lost but we know that we gave Nondies a very competitive match.”

The South Coast Pirates lock was a standout performer for his team and capped it off with a brilliant try in the dying moments of the game.

Kabayo however insists that the team comes before any personal glory and is instead focused on helping the team achieve its goals this season.

“It feels good to get a try but what matters at the end is how the team performs. That will always be my focus,” Kabayo reiterated.

Something that will however concern the South Coast Pirates was how easy it was for the Nondies forwards to completely dominate the breakdowns and the amount of turnovers at their lineouts.

Coach Amiani highlighted this and has promised to work on it in training ahead of their next match.

“Nondies forwards were too strong at both the lineouts and scrums. Maybe it is a matter of experience but we will work with our forwards to rectify this and put in a better performance this coming week.”

On the other hand Nondies team manager Kevin Ligale sought to squash the notion that his team had taken the Pirates challenge lightly. The league leaders conceded a try straight from kick off and looked lacklustre for most of the match. 

“We don’t under estimate any team in this competition. We conceded because the lads were not fully concentrated, the score gave the team a wake up call that we are going to have a long day if we don’t fully concentrate and do the business that brought us to Diani.”

Ligale also remained upbeat about the team’s chances of being promoted back into the Kenya Cup a season after being relegated into the Championship.

“It was very important to keep the promotion charge going; we have seen how the boys can operate under pressure when we are trailing. That is, how composed the boys were for them to get the next score, which was very important so as to keep the winning culture keep going.”

Nondies will next take on Zetech at home while the South Coast Pirates welcome Impala in what promises to be another blockbuster.