Simbas head coach identifies areas of weaknesses ahead of final Rugby World Cup qualifier

Paul Odera, head coach of the men’s national rugby 15s side Kenya Simbas, has admitted that the team still have a lot of work to do before they depart to Dubai to take part in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final Qualification Tournament (The Repechage) slated to take place from 6-18 November 2022.

The Simbas, who missed out on direct qualification to the 2023 Rugby World Cup after finishing second in July’s Rugby Africa Cup following their loss to Namibia in the final, have been in residential camp for the past week as part of their final preparations and played an in-house friendly on Saturday to assess themselves.

In the encounter split into two teams, Michael Owino’s Team Green defeated Odera’s Team Red 33-27 in an intense battle played at the RFUEA Ground leaving the head coach delighted with the physical progress but not so much on the tactical front.

“Physically the team has made a lot of progress because when they walked into camp some of them had added extra weight which they shouldn’t have and it was clear they were rusty. On that front, credit goes to the strength and conditioning team for the job they have done.

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Tactically and technically, we still have a lot to do and that is the disadvantage when you are not playing against top teams regularly. We now need to accelerate the progress before we take on the USA in the opening match,” he said.

Additionally, Odera revealed the match served as a trial before the final selection is made and an opportunity to test the players with an aim of settling for the final squad that will jet out next weekend.

“The game was being used as trial between players who we are looking to pick for the Repechage. But we were also looking at some of the players who represented Kenya at the Currie Cup and at the Rugby Africa Cup because they have not played for over two months.

On top of that, we are trying to look at what combinations can work for us because we are going to miss some players from the squad we had,” he added.

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In Dubai, Kenya are set to face USA, Portugal and Hong Kong in the four-team tournament, and the eventual winner of the tournament will be the final team to join the Rugby World Cup 2023 adventure where they will take their place in Pool C alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia.