Rugby team ups training for CAR Cup
PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU Tusker Simba’s Collins Injera (centre) charges to the touchline during Kenya’s friendly match against Western Province at the RFUEA grounds on June 7. The national rugby team has intensified training ahead of the Confederation of Africa Rugby (CAR) set for Madagascar later this month.
What you need to know:
- The tournament will also double up as the qualifiers for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
- Jerome Paarwater’s charges need to emerge tops in a tricky pool that includes the hosts, Zimbabwe and Namibia at the qualifiers to be assured of a slot to feature in their first ever World Cup.
The national rugby team has intensified training ahead of the Confederation of Africa Rugby (CAR) set for Madagascar later this month.
The tournament will also double up as the qualifiers for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
The team has been taking part in high altitude training at the Nanyuki Sports Club in Laikipia this week, and Kenya Rugby Union chairman Mwangi Muthee has termed the trip ‘a team-building affair.’
“We are almost ready, the side has undergone the best possible preparation in a long time, and this makes us very optimistic (of securing qualification to the World Cup),” said Muthee.
“The Union opted for a high altitude training camp in the Mount Kenya region for our last phase of preparation and the boys have been there since Sunday. The main purpose for this camp is team building, gelling and preparing a game plan for the tournament in Madagascar,” Muthee added.
TRICKY POOL
Jerome Paarwater’s charges need to emerge tops in a tricky pool that includes the hosts, Zimbabwe and Namibia at the qualifiers to be assured of a slot to feature in their first ever World Cup.
A runners-up berth for Simba XV will assure them a play-off date against a yet-to-be determined European-based team for a slot in the premier international competition slated for England next year.
The ten-day competition will begin on June 28 in Antananarivo.
Simba XV’s preparations for these qualifiers has seen the players feature at the Vodacom Cup in South Africa as a guest team earlier this year. Kenya also lost 28-32 to South African franchise outfit Western Province in a friendly game staged in Nairobi.
