Kenya, Uganda meet at Barthes Cup event
Battle lines are drawn between Kenya and Uganda during the 2022 Barthes Rugby Trophy quarter final at Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday.
Kenya’s Chipu who are the defending champions are expected to name their 23-man squad by Friday.
Uganda Cranes have already sent their travel itinerary to Kenya Rugby Union with their 33-man squad set to land in Nairobi on Thursday morning.
Six other countries: Madagascar, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Zambia and Ivory Coast start arriving today and shall use St Mary’s School as their training venues.
Eight African national U20 teams are expected to kick off the 2022 trophy beginning with quarter-final knockouts.
The event will be played over three days with the semifinal scheduled for Wednesday 13 while the grand final will be on April 17. Former champions Namibia will start the quarter finals against Cote d’Ivoire at 9.00am while Tunisia and Zimbabwe, both of who are making a comeback, will clash thereafter at 11.30 am on Saturday.
Last season runners up Madagascar will renew rivalry with Zambia at 2pm with the match curtain-raising the Migingo derby pitting Kenya’s Chipu and Cranes of Uganda.
The premier African Under-20 tournament is expected to produce thrills and thrills although only at stake for participating teams are the bragging rights of emerging winners.
According to the original arrangement of the International Rugby Board, the winner would have automatically qualified to feature in the World Rugby junior championships which have twice been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament has traditionally been the pathway for cropping a new breed of players as the feeder to the national teams. In Kenya, Shujaa and the Simbas have over the years enjoyed the quality of internationally tested players in the event and have shown hunger for more titles.
World Rugby has been working with regions and unions to identify safe playing conditions due to the vagaries brought about by the coronavirus.
