Kenya inch closer to World Cup: Paarwater's boys upset Namibia, face Madagascar and Zimbabwe

National 15 rugby team during the high altitude training at the Nanyuki Sports Club on June 22. They beat Namibia yesterday. [PHOTO: SAMMY MOSE]

The Kenya National 15s team moved one step closer to qualifying for the Rugby World Cup in England in 2015, after an emphatic 29-22 victory over Namibia.

Playing at the Mahamasina stadium in Madagascar, Kenya survived an early scare to take the maximum five points from the match, also having received a bonus point for scoring four tries.
Two tries in the second half from scrum-half Edwin Achayo and flanker Andrew Amonde put Kenya on their way to a historic victory that not only gets them closer to defending their CAR title, but also sees them go up the IRB rankings.
Head coach Jerome Parwaater will be particularly pleased at how the whole team played, but with a little extra gratitude to the forwards who rose to the occasion against their opponents. The Namibian forwards were generally bigger than the Kenya forwards which gave them a slight advantage in the scrum-downs.
Kenya then focused on where their strength was: the line-outs. Coordination between captain Wilson Kopondo and hooker Sammy Warui was spot-on.
Not only did they maintain possession well, but the Kenyan mauls were equally threatening and set-up a good platform for the team to play from. The burly Namibians were shocked that they were matched easily with Kenya also playing well in the contact area.
With Kenya leading 29-22 in the second half, frustration from their opponents became evident as they easily conceded penalties, which broke their forward momentum and had Kenya taken advantage of the penalties, they would have won by a much a bigger margin.
Namibia were the highest-ranked side at the beginning at the tournament, at 22nd according to IRB rankings. Zimbabwe are currently ranked 30th while Madagascar was ranked at 35th.
Kenya's next match will be against Madagascar on Wednesday, while Namibia will take on Zimbabwe on the same day. The final match will be on Sunday when Kenya will face Zimbabwe while Namibia will take on the hosts Madagascar. Namibia and Zimbabwe have been to the World Cup. Kenya will need to stay at their best if they are to make their maiden appearance in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.