Kenya’s 15s side face Tunisia in crucial CAR match

By BS Mulavi

The Kenya National 15s rugby team is preparing for the game of their lives as they play Tunisia on Saturday in the Confederation of African Rugby Trophy in Tunisia.

According to team manager, Wangila Simiyu, this will be their biggest game yet as they fight to remain in Division One A of the tournament and, ultimately, be in contention for qualification of the Rugby World Cup to be held in England in 2015.

“We are preparing to play the game of our lives and all we now need is the support of our fans for whom we will play our hearts out,” said Simiyu.

“The pressure will be on Tunisia, who are playing on home soil and it will be up to us to step it up and take the game to them,” he explained.

“They should expect a much faster game from us and we are confident that we can overcome them,” he said.

The losers of this match will be relegated to Division One B and the stakes are high considering the favourites are likely to make the World Cup.

Namibia lost to Madagascar last week.

“We have made some changes?in the half back positions which were held by Moses Kola and Eden Agero,” said Simiyu.

This means Isaac Adimo might get a chance to start thus the change in pace in the game.

“Another change we have made is that Duncan Ekasi will start while Tony Mutai will be on the bench and will get his chance in the second half,” Simiyu continued.

“The main reason for this change is that we want to start strongly and finish strongly as well,” he went on to explain.

“We always play with very good structure, but what lets us down is small mistakes for which we are punished for.”

“Uganda did not play better than us on Tuesday, but we made some silly errors and failed to convert our chances from the four penalty attempts which would have changed the course of the game completely,” he said.

“We are playing under very hot conditions of degrees of up to forty, but for now I believe we have acclimatised better and we can beat Tunisia.”

The Kenya team is under intense scrutiny after losing to neighbors Uganda and with sweeping changes being made in the Sevens National team, it will not come as a surprise if drastic changes are made to the 15s side as well if they are relegated.