Madagascar set to arrive for Barthes Cup tomorrow
National U-20 men’s rugby team, Chipu, will this week be working on three key areas as three injured players are set to be replaced for the next Barthes Cup clash scheduled for Sunday, July 11 at the Nyayo Stadium.
The three-team round robin competition will be completed when Madagascar arrive in the country on Wednesday ahead of their first clash against Senegal this coming Saturday at the same venue.
Despite a huge win against Senegal Saturday where they hit the half a century mark without conceding a try, Chipu had a couple of errors that need fixing according to the team manager Peter Mutai.
After the opening match, Chipu coach Curtis Olago noted a couple of areas of concern and promised to cut on the mistakes before the defending champs return to meet their next opponent.
“We struggled to gain ground in the first half. Our forwards were too physical instead of making right decisions and playing in the right areas.
I guess partly it’s because the boys had not seen such huge guys before when we kicked off the match but we now have work to do.
We have a big one coming up and we need to fix our line outs and how we approach the gain line,” Olago told People Sport.
Meanwhile, Mutai has confirmed that two players will be replaced owing to injuries while one player was to be assessed yesterday to determine whether he will be good to play the next clash.
The injured duo include lock Andrew Wangila who started against Senegal and substitute hooker Celestine Mboi.
“We have three reported injuries but we will assess one to know his playing fate, but two have been confirmed to be replaced after they picked up knocks in the opener,” said Mutahi.
Madagascar’s arrival will complete the three-team event that has been rescheduled and will now end on July 11 following arrival delays by Madagascar due to travel restrictions over Covid-19 disruptions.
