Jerome Paarwater: Conditioning did it

Kenya coach Jerome Paarwater has attributed his team’s resounding 41-15 victory over Portugal in a Test match on Saturday to improved conditioning and fitness.

Paarwater said his players have not only grown bigger but they are more agile, fitter and stronger, and that gave them an advantage over their visitors, who struggled to make an impression at the well-attended match at Rugby Football Union of East Africa ground.

The Simbas outwitted the struggling Wolves at the breakdowns, were sharp in open play and but slightly fell short in line-outs.

Full back Samuel Oliech scored a brace of tries as man of the match, right-wing Darwin Mukidza, skipper flanker Brian Nyikuli and centre Kelvin Omiyo scored a try apiece to propel Kenya to a famous victory.

Mukidza, who was declared man of the match, made four conversions while scrum-half Lyle Asiligwa one conversion and fly-half Isaac Adimo a drop goal.

“The Portuguese were bigger but my charges were stronger and fast. But that came at a price since the players and the technical bench have sacrificed to work hard on it,” said Paarwater, adding that there is a lot remaining to polish ahead of their next matches.

“The players stuck to structures. We should have scored more points in the first half but made mistakes in finishing,” said Paarwater. “Beating Portugal who are ranked 23rd in the world, nine positions in front of Kenya, is a good achievement that Kenya must build on going forward.”

MUST NOT RELENT

Paarwater was glad that his charges were able to conjure a sterling show to return back the smiles on their fans’ faces after coming agonisingly close to qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup (RWC) finals.

Paarwater said the journey to build a formidable 15s team started three years ago adding that Kenya performed well last year in the 2015 RWC qualifier but its only bad luck that the team didn’t qualify for the England finals.

“That was the performance that made World Rugby take note and give us two Test matches against Portugal and Spain,” said Paarwater. “We need more international matches and refined youth development structures so as to make our journey to the next 2019 RWC much easier.”

Paarwater said that Kenya must not relent after last year’s failure to qualify and must redouble their energy if they hope to make it to the 2019 RWC finals.

“The most important thing is that we must have depth in the squad and that can only be achieved by bringing in more young players,” said Paarwater.

After hosting Portugal, Kenya will travel to Harare for a date with Zimbabwe in the first of its Africa Rugby Division 1A fixtures on June 13.

They will then host Tunisia in their second encounter of Division 1A on June 28 in Nairobi before taking on Spain on July 18 in another Test match.

Kenya will wind up their season’s fixtures with a Division 1A match away to Namibia on August 8.

However, Portugal coach Henrique Coelho Graça Rocha advised Kenya to be more effective on their line-outs besides working more on their forward play.

“Any team’s formidable attack is pegged on their forwards and I think Kenya can still do more on this.

“They must be efficient in their line-outs.”