Kenya Cup

The Kenya Cup is the top tier club rugby union competition in Kenya organized by the Kenya Rugby Union. For the 2019-2020 season, twelve teams are divided into two pools of six, Each team plays home and away against each team in its pool and once against each team in the other pool. The top six teams in the single-table format qualify for the playoff finals: the top two teams secure a home semi-final. The other four teams are paired into two knock-out games: the winners of the two games each play one of the two top-ranked teams (that had secured an automatic semi-final berth). The winners of the two semi-final fixtures play in the final to determine the overall winner(the top-ranked team before the playoffs hosts the final).

Kenya Cup
Current season or competition:
2017–18 Kenya Cup
Competition logo
SportRugby union
Instituted1970
Number of teams12
Country Kenya
HoldersKenya Commercial Bank RFC (2018–2019)
Most titlesNondescripts RFC (17 titles)
WebsiteKenya Cup Official Website
Related competitionNationwide League
Eric Shirley Shield
A maul during a match between KCB RFC and Quins

Promotion and relegation exists between the Kenya Cup, Championship and Nationwide leagues. The two lowest placed teams in the Kenya Cup are relegated to the Championship, and the top two teams in the Championship are promoted to the Kenya Cup. Games are played on Saturday afternoons usually preceded by corresponding fixtures in the Eric Shirley Shield.

The Kenya Cup was founded in 1970 by the newly formed Kenya Rugby Football Union with the first tournament won by Impala RFC.[1]

KCB RFC retained the Kenya Cup for a third successive time after a 23-15 victory over Kabras Sugar in the final contested on 18 May 2019 at the Kakamega Showgrounds.[2]

2019–2020 Kenya Cup teams

2017-2018 Kenya Cup final standings

These are the final standings of the Kenya Cup.[3]

1 KCB RFC 11 10 1 0 394 97 297 9 51

2 Homeboyz RFC 11 10 0 1 392 201 191 8 48

3 Kabras Sugar RFC 11 9 0 2 398 183 215 7 43

4 Impala Saracens 11 8 1 2 313 173 140 6 40

5 Kenya Harlequin F.C. 10 6 0 4 363 177 186 9 33

6 Strathmore Leos 11 5 0 6 184 231 -47 5 25

7 Nakuru RFC 11 4 0 7 264 251 13 7 23

8 Mwamba RFC 11 4 0 7 286 254 32 6 22

9 Nondescripts RFC 10 3 0 7 192 218 -26 5 17

10 BlakBlad RFC 11 3 0 8 165 329 -164 4 16

11 KISII RFC 11 2 0 9 200 353 -153 4 12

12 Mombasa RFC 11 0 0 11 51 691 -640 0 0

Champions

The previous champions of the Kenya Cup are:[4]

a. ^ This webpage states that Harlequins had also had "Previous Kenya Cup victories: 1955, 1957, 1964, 1988". This is probably incorrect as these are years that Harlequins won the Enterprise Cup.The Kenya Cup was inaugurated in 1970. Before 1970 the competition which was held was called the Nairobi District Championship. However the 1995 victory seems likely as it is included in a list that also shows the Enterprise Cup win that year.

Titles by team
Team Titles Years won
Nondescripts RFC171975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998
Impala RFC101970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009
Kenya Harlequin F.C.81995, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012
KCB RFC72005, 2006, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
Mean Machine RFC31977, 1989, 1990
Nakuru RFC22013, 2014
Mwamba RFC11983
Barclays Bank RFC11987
Kabras Sugar12016

References
  1. "Kenya Rugby Historical Highlights" (PDF). Kenya RFU. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  2. "The Kenya Cup". www.kenyacup.co.ke. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  3. https://www.kenyacup.co.ke/standings/201718-2/
  4. "Kenya Cup Roll of Honour". Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  5. "Kenya Harlequins: An Introduction". Come All Within. Rugby Network. 1 February 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
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