By: Nderitu Brian
The Kenya Simbas flew north desperate for wins and putting themselves back to the map. After beating Algeria 36-33 in the semis they had to renew their rivalry in the final with Namibia who strolled past Zimbabwe in a score-line of 34-19. Winning the Rugby Africa cup would not only end the Simbas trophy drought but also guarantee them a direct ticket to the Rugby World cup in France which will commence on 8th September next year.
The squad led by coach Paul Odera, iconic captain Daniel Sikuta and the like of the phenomenal Collins Injera who has scored 271 tries gave Kenyans the optimism of bringing the trophy home.
However the turn of events unfolded the unexpected way as Kenya Simbas were already 5-0 at the 6th minute and we had to let our guard down as far as the high expectations were concerned. The match turned sour after going 15-0 down at halftime. With 40 minutes to go, a comeback was most unlikely since the Simbas had so many errors whereas Namibia was too clinical and dominated the whole 80 minutes.The insatiable Namibia continued with the demolition and the destruction and at full time a shocking score of Namibia 36-0 Simbas was displayed on the score board. Namibia got the direct ticket to the world cup and added a trophy to their trophy cabinet.
However all is not lost and Simbas can still qualify for the world cup through a final qualification tournament commonly referred to as Repechage. It’s a round-bin competition comprising of four teams across Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
Simbas are guaranteed to face Portugal as well as the loser between United States and Chile and the loser between HongKong and Tonga. If the Simbas win the tournament, they book a spot in pool C of the World Cup in France. Pool C which already comprises of four giant teams namely: Fiji, Australia, Wales and Georgia and Simbas are hopeful to fill the only remaining slot to make it to the five required teams in a single pool.
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