Mean Machine RFC took the Kenya rugby scene by storm in 1989 and 1990. The team which at the time comprised entirely of students of the University of Nairobi. Rugby in Kenya had traditionally been dominated by teams like Nondescripts, Impala and later Mwamba. Prior to 1989 , Mean Machine were known to play a brand of rugby that was exciting , free flowing but not very structured. As such they had never won the Kenya cup.

All that changed in 1989. Led by the legendary Edward Rombo, Machine playing the excited free flowing brand of rugby that they had come to be associated with, won the Kenya cup in style. Rombo who played on the wing, combined breathtaking speed with a killer sidestep that came to be known in Kenya rugby circles as the Rombo jig.

But it was not just Rombo. There was also John Moore Ohaga at flyhalf, Oliver Khabure at second row, Martin Ndeda at scrum half along with others like Musalia Kihamba, Edwin Obuya and full back Ken Kanyi many of whom were the very best at their respective positions.

Machine went on to win the Kenya cup again in 1990. They had captured the imagination of local rugby fans. Wherever they played, their large band of supporters, many of whom were not even students at UoN followed them.. Not since then has a Kenyan rugby club been followed so fanatically.