Chipu burning midnight oil ahead of World Rugby U20 trophy
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 14.06.24. | 12:12
Kenya Chipu is in camp finalising preparations for the World Rugby U20 Trophy set to be held in Scotland
The Kenya U20 national team, Chipu, is diligently honing their skills in preparation for the World Rugby U20 Trophy, which will take place from July 2–17 at the Edinburgh Stadium in Scotland.
Chipu qualified for the global tournament after defeating Zimbabwe 28-13 in the Rugby Africa Barthes Cup in Zimbabwe last April.
The team is currently camping at the Kenya Academy of Sports. They train at Peponi School and once in a while have sessions with the Kenya 15s national team, Simbas, who are also gearing up for the Rugby Africa Cup, which kicks off on July 20–28 in Uganda.
Mozzart Sport attended one of Chipu’s training sessions and caught up with coach Simon Jawichre, who revealed that he believes that the team must be in perfect shape ahead of the global tournament. They will be looking to improve on their sixth-place finish during last year’s showpiece.
“We took too long a break for some of the guys. A few of them have been competing and training at an adequate level, but not everyone has. Last week, we participated in a game and conducted some training and assessments, which revealed that our performance was slightly below expectations, particularly considering the scale of the tournament. The tournament will tell us where we are in terms of our junior team,” he offered.
Jawichre further revealed that the squad has many hits than misses, and expressed confidence that they would perform at their best level. Before the Barthes Cup, the team was in camp for less than 10 days, but they went ahead to conquer Africa.
He explained that there would be no major changes to the squad.
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“In the future, I know we will improve over the years in terms of system, but in terms of player and manpower selection, this is one of the best teams we have had over the years. There were no major changes. This is the squad that got us here. You do not change a winning formula. We just have to trim down from 35 to 28,” he revealed.
They will begin their campaign with a match against Uruguay on July 2 before locking horns with the Netherlands on July 7. In their final pool match, Kenya will take on the USA on Friday, July 12, 2024.
The tactician noted that part of their preparation was assessing their opponents’ style of play. He urged fans to rally behind them as they take on the world stage.
“We are working on our set pieces and lineouts, which we must work on thoroughly. At the moment, we are assessing our opponents. My biggest headache is the first match, against Uruguay. If we can work through that, we will get going,” he offered.
He continued: “Fans have been with us, even though they do not fully believe in us. The best they can do is support us. This time, we are going to represent not just Kenya, but the entire continent as well. We urge them to keep supporting us because this is for all of us.”
The final rankings will see the pool toppers compete in the final, while the runners-up face off in the bronze final. Third-placed teams will battle for fifth place, while the bottom-placed teams will compete for seventh place.
WORLD U20 TROPHY POOLS
Pool A: Scotland (host) Japan Hong Kong, Samoa
Pool B: Netherlands, USA Uruguay Kenya
KENYA U20 FIXTURES
Kenya vs. Uruguay: Tuesday, July 2, 2024, 4:30 p.m. EAT
Kenya vs. Netherlands: Sunday, July 7, 2024, 9:45 p.m. EAT
Kenya vs. USA: Friday, July 12, 2024, 4:30 p.m. EAT
