Rugby: Kenya under-20 finish sixth in World Junior event

Kenya in action against Uruguay in 2019 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy. [File]

The national under-20 rugby team finished sixth at the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy after losing 52-13 to Canada in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday night.

In their South America outing, Chipu, as the Kenyan junior team is also known as, lost three matches and won one match in the preliminaries, against hosts Brazil.

Chipu’s performance in the tournament, which is World Rugby’s second-tier junior competition, was a drop from their showing in 2009 where they finished fourth in their only other appearance at the eight-team global showpiece.

While the Paul Odera-coached Chipu might have had a disappointing tournament, they will definitely have a few positives to pick from the event as players like Jeffrey Okwach put up brilliant displays.

The KCB youngster will have staked a claim in the national men’s senior 15s team, Simbas if his performance in Brazil is anything to go by.

Save for the 63-11 loss to Uruguay on day one, the Kenyans exhibited flashes of brilliance in the other three ties and there is no doubt their lack of regular exposure proved costly. 

Against Canada in the fifth-sixth place playoff, Kenya trailed 19-8 at half time.