Simbas plots to pounce on Leopards
Simbas will play the Leopards from South Africa this Saturday at the RFUEA grounds from 4.00pm in a first division Currie Cup fixture where both sides anticipate a physical encounter at the RFUEA grounds. The maiden Currie Cup match on home soil will give the visitors a new experience.
Kenya Simbas head coach Paul Odera banks on 11 changes to boost his Currie Cup campaign heading into the eighth round.
Coach Odera is confident of winning the home match against a well-balanced side that is coming off their third win courtesy of a 35-0 win over Zimbabwe Goshawks while Simbas threw up a 7-5 lead to lose 24-7 to SWD Eagles last weekend.
“We are looking forward to a memorable first game on home soil, we have improved our game thanks to this competition and we would like to play according to our style in front of our fans,” Odera told Wikendi Sports.
The pitch curtains will be raised by an Under 20 clash pitting Nairobi based Chipu players and Western Kenya at 1.00pm before giving way to the main event of the day.
The visitors’ head coach Andre Pretorius will tread with caution owing to Kenya’s physicality as he observed from their training and matches.
“Kenya will come out firing and they will be very physical; it will be a great game and we are looking forward to it as we are on the learning curve about Kenyan rugby.
“Simbas have been getting better each week and we discussed this with the management and squad that if we don’t step up to the challenge we will be in trouble,” Pretorius said.
Simbas team manager Jimmy Mnene told Wikendi Sports that the South African opposition has been of great help in shaping their mindset. Springbok players will be using the competition to regain their fitness and coming off injuries.
“The second division of the Currie cup is very competitive and we have played against a couple of Springbok players along the way and it has been a great learning curve.
“We have proven dominance in many instances but along the way, we learnt tough lessons including how to protect a lead. Against Kavaliers we conceded three tries in six minutes after a long break and they turned over the game and won,” Mnene said.
-Alex Njue
