Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) director of rugby, Thomas Odundo, would love to see Simbas playing friendly matches in either April or May ahead of the Rugby World Cup qualifiers in France in July.
A squad of 81 players—66 home-based and 15 foreign-based— were named on Tuesday by head coach Paul Odera for the qualifiers.
“On completion of the league campaign, we are looking at having about four to six weeks of intense training sessions and then play matches of a higher quality ahead of July assignments.
“If we don’t play these higher quality teams, we will not be able to prepare the players mentally and it will be difficult for the technical team to identify the right players,” said Odundo.
The union had received an invite from the South Africa Rugby Union to play in the Currie Cup next month but lack of funds has seen the trip shelved.
The Simbas are scheduled to meet age-old rivals Uganda Cranes in the quarterfinal of the RWCQ on either July 1 or 2. Should they secure a victory in this match, they will proceed to face either Senegal or Algeria in the semifinal on July 6. The final of the qualifiers will take place on July 10.
Kenya missed out on the Rugby World Cup in 2019 after losing out in the repechage to Germany, Canada, and Hong Kong in France.
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