Kenya Simbas head coach Paul Odera has praised his charges after booking a final place at the Rugby Africa Cup final on Sunday.
The Kenyan side advanced with a narrow 36-33 victory against Algeria in the first semifinal action played at the Stade Delort in Marseille, France on Wednesday 6 July 2022.
The Kenyan side had to dig deeper for the results, twice behind the North Africans with fullback Darwin Mukidza restoring parity on both occasions by converting tries from inside center John Okoth to level the scores at 14-14.
It was Mukidza again who scored and converted his own try to give the Kenyan side a 21-14 lead at the break.
The adrenaline in the particular fixture was not over as the North Africans scored a converted try after the restart to level the scores at 21-21.
Jone Kubu’s penalty made it 24-21 in favour of the Simbas before hooker Eugene Sifuna converted to stretch Simbas lead to 31-21.
The Algerians reduced the deficit to within five points but Bryceson Adaka took the Simbas back to the driving seat with the game ending 36-33 after a good defense display from the Simbas
Speaking after the game, Odera said, “We struggled a bit in the setpieces but we have to give credit to them (Simbas). Every time Algeria came back at us we were able to get ahead. Algeria, as expected, were going to be a tough opponent. They were always going to put us under a lot of pressure in the forwards.”
“But mine is so much joy, we are one game away from coming back to France in 2023 which is huge. So proud of the team, just enjoying the win. We regroup, we recover and then we go again.The boys do realise that it is just 80 minutes away from making history as the first Simbas team to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, “ he concluded.
The Simbas will play Namiba in the Rugby Africa Cup final on Sunday 10 July 2022 in Marseille. Namibia beat Zimbabwe 34 -19 in the second semifinal of the Rugby Africa Cup on Wednesday night.
The Sunday’s final comes with a direct ticket of qualification as the African representative to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France at stake.
Kenya Simbas will be looking for ways to play at the Rugby World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.
