Simbas and Chipu leaving nothing to chance ahead of African, world tournaments

Kenya Simbas (15s aside) and Kenya Chipu (U20s) are undertaking programmes that will culminate in preparations for the Rugby Africa Cup/World Cup Qualifiers and Barthes Cup this year.

With the Kenya Cup Playoffs and Enterprise Cup still ongoing at crucial stages, both teams have taken a low run but the technical benches have been hard at work with spotting, scouting and skill sharing efforts across the two tiers in the Kenya Cup and Championship as well.

The Simbas under South African Head Coach Jerome Paarwater, who has returned from a short break, revealed to the Informer Media that there were working with split blocks with camps in Kakamega and Nakuru in a bid to get the team in shape while assessing potential recruits. On Monday in Nakuru, 30 players trained with the 15s side under the watch of the technical bench and Paarwater believes that the camps were helpful and a good marker.

“The sessions have been good and we have so far done a session in Nairobi in a mini-camp for alignment with clubs here in the city. Obviously because the Kenya Cup competition is still on, we did not want to disturb their schedules and plans so this is why the split camps were necessary. In Nakuru, we had two sessions incorporating the U20s as well which was a success.”

“We had 30 players in attendance and we took time to analyze them. This is of course in addition to the 3 day camp held in January in Kakamega with 45 players in tow. I want to say weldone to the coaches who have been working well on this project and we expect even with the new players coming in, they will be ready for Simbas,” said Paarwater, whose Simbas side is set for an intense training camp in South Africa in May.

The tournament, scheduled for July in Uganda, presents Kenya with a crucial opportunity to secure a direct ticket to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The winner of the RAC will qualify automatically, while the runner-up will enter a pre-repechage playoff. The Simbas reached the 2022 Rugby Africa Cup final but fell to Namibia, who claimed the continent’s sole ticket to the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Kenya would want to take advantage of the four extra slots offered by the IRB (International Rugby Board) for the 2027 World Cup.

Meanwhile, the Chipu side under Head Coach Simon Jawichre is also readying itself for the ultimate tournament with a programme in place. The technical unit of the U20 side has been going round clubs in the Kenya Cup and Championship and assessing players who are actively involved in playing matches this season. With Kenya being the defending champions in the competition, the stakes are high

“We have had two recent trips to Western Kenya and been hard at work over the time. I have been liaising with some Kenya Cup coaches and even attended some games to assess potential guys who can and help us. We have sat down with Kenya Rugby Union and done deliverables which were Okayed. Last month, we had trials and around 80 players came through for regular training and then fitness and medical checks. We went through skills assessment and recently we cut the number to 25 players based in Nairobi,” he said.

Jawichre added; “Last week we were in Nakuru for a three day residential camp which was facilitated by the Union and it went really well. We had the opportunity to observe the team and worked on areas like set pieces and building play. We also got opportunity on the side to look at the highlights of Barthes 2024 and areas of improvement. Focus points were mainly loading, Strength & Conditioning and tactics in general. It was also nice to touch base and integrate with the Simbas and get valuable help from that bench. We are looking at those players who can adapt and this meant we started with attack training then defense will follow. I have seen positives and so we will come up with a final list of around 35 players ahead of the tournament in Zimbabwe next month.”