Simbas roar past United Arab Emirates

Walter Okoth of Kenya Simbas outpace Marcus Guerin of The United Arab Emirates (UAE) during a one-off training match with both nations preparing for important Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifying tournaments in the coming months on May 24, 2025. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Kenya Simbas displayed resilience and class yesterday when they came from 14-0 down to thrash United Arab Emirates 54-24 in a friendly match held at the RFUEA Grounds.

The match served as a dual-purpose fixture for Simbas, who were not only preparing for a high-performance tour to South Africa but also preparing for Rugby World Cup qualifiers set for July in Uganda.

On the other hand, UAE were preparing for the upcoming Asian Cup.

Despite showing early dominance, Kenya struggled to capitalise on their pressure in the opening segment.

With a slow start, Simbas found themselves trailing 14-0 after the first third.

It took the intervention of France-based Bethuel Anami, who opened the scoring for the hosts with a try converted by debutant Kabras Sugar's Erick Cantona.

UAE quickly responded with a converted try to make it 21-7, but the Simbas were not done.

Cantona marked his debut in style moments later, scoring and converting his own try and narrowing the gap to 21-14.

Mistakes continued to haunt Kenya after a late infringement by Simbas saw UAE convert a penalty to end the second segment at 24-14.

KCB's Andycolle Omollo powered over from a maul, with Timothy Omela converting to bring the scores to 24-21.

Omollo's clubmate Samuel Asati, who now regularly features for Kenya Sevens, set up Ibrahim Ayoo for a try that saw Kenya take the lead for the first time at 26-24.

The referee awarded a penalty try, pushing Kenya further ahead to 31-24 after a series of UAE infringements before

Omela's burst on the left wing and offload to Griffin Chao led to another converted try.

Tyson Juma's brilliant kick-and-chase laid the platform for Omollo to bag his second of the day.

Kenya's final try came from a scrum set-piece, with Asati breaking through and setting up Bryceson Adaka for a centre-post finish, sealing a comprehensive 54-24 victory.

Kenya will now name their final 33-man squad tomorrow.