Kenya primed for title assault

The national rugby team is all set to take on opponents this weekend in this year’s CAR Division 1A Cup.

The tournament which begins in Madagascar on Saturday will also double up as African qualifiers for next year’s World Cup.

And good tidings may be on the way. Should Kenya qualify for next year’s World Cup in England, the Kenya Rugby Union will be guaranteed significant funding from the International Rugby Board.

The team on Sunday returned to Nairobi after a week-long camp in Nanyuki in preparation for the Madagascar qualifiers.

PAAWATER TO NAME TEAM

The 26-man team to Antananarivo will be named by head coach Jerome Paarwater on Tuesday at the RFUEA grounds, and the squad will have more than just World Cup qualification to play for.

IRB funds a number of rugby unions in the world for development and supporting game structures in various countries, and qualification for the World Cup will put Kenya in contention for the funding.

KRU chairman Mwangi Muthee believes the team will qualify to benefit from IRB funding.

“We need to develop structures to ensure we go to the World Cup to compete. Building such structures is costly, and funding from IRB will come in handy. Should we qualify, we stand to get a minimum of Sh87 million from the IRB to prepare for the World Cup. Afterwards, we could get the same amount annually for development,” said Muthee.

He added that qualification would elevate Kenya to a Test-playing nation and teams from around the world would be interested in playing the team in Test matches.

Kenya is currently a tier three team, a development category consisting of teams most of which have never featured in the World Cup. Qualification for the World Cup will put Kenya in tier two.