Kenya Simbas maul Zambia to advance to World Cup Qualifying Tournament

The national rugby 15s side, Kenya Simbas, outclassed Zambia 45-8 in a pool B Rugby Africa Cup clash staged at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

An assured first half performance ensured that Kenya finished second and proceeded alongside Senegal to the 2022 Rugby Africa Cup that will double as the qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup scheduled for France.

Coming from an upsetting loss against Senegal in the opening match, Simbas ensured they started the hame on the right footing as Daniel Sikuta, inside just three minutes of the game, touched down after a perfectly executed maul from a lineout, Jone Kubu converting to give Kenya a perfect 7-0 start.

Moments after finding his first points of the match, Kubu split the upright with a penalty conversion that extended Kenya's lead to ten with Zambia still struggling to settle into the high paced tempo of the game.

With the momentum in favour of Simba, it did not take long before they found a second try of the game, brilliant flow in play between Dominic Coulson, Samuel Asati and Brian Tanga culminating in the latter crossing over the tryline. This time though, Kubu failed to add the extras and the scores read 15-0.

Zambia managed to register their first points of the game off a penalty that was successfully converted in the 28th minute. A slithering Kubu then sliced the Zambian defence as he landed his first try of the match and Kenya's third that was successfully converted by Coulson to take the scores to 22-3.

Kenya, determined to take full advantage, heaped even more pressure as a sublime Kubu sneaked in a drop goal that extended the lead by a further three points.

And there was no stopping Kubu, the Kabras Sugar player once again cut past the Zambian defence as he touched down for his second try that got the game to the half time score line of 32-3 in favour of Kenya.

Upon play's resumption in the second half, Kenya once again picked up from where they left it at with another unconverted try that pushed the lead to 37-3.

In a rare breach of the Kenyan defense on the day, Zambia landed their first try of the game but missed on the conversion as Zambia added five to their three points.Substitute George Nyambua added yet another try that proved to be the final of the game before Coulson converted a late penalty with the last kick as Kenya whitewashed the Zambians 45-8, a win that guaranteed th second place in pool B and qualification to the 2022 Rugby Africa Cup that serves as the 2023 Rugby World Cup African Qualifier Tournament.