The Kenya rugby team arrived in the country for a potentially explosive Africa Cup opener against Zimbabwe yesterday with their coach Jerome Paarwater declaring that they have a score to settle with the hosts.
By Munyaradzi Madzokere
Led by Paarwater and team manager Siminya Wangila, the Simbas landed at Harare International Airport around 2pm aboard Kenya Airways.
Speaking to journalists soon after arrival, the South African-born coach said revenge was on their mind as they faced the team which crushed their hopes of reaching the 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup in Madagascar last year.
“It’s good to be in Zimbabwe. I think we owe Zimbabwe because they kept us out of the World Cup for this year, so I think it’s going to be a good, but tough game,” Paarwater said. “We have a lot of respect for Zimbabwe, but we also have a score to settle with them.”
He expressed confidence in their preparations for the upcoming Africa Division 1A Championship encounter following their emphatic 41-15 victory over Portugal in Nairobi two weeks ago.
“Our preparations have been good. We played Portugal two weeks ago and beat them, so we are where we want to be because we have been training together for a while and the guys are ready for the game,” he added.
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However, Paarwater does not think that the team he brought this time around is stronger than the one that succumbed to Zimbabwe in the previous encounter.
“I won’t say we are stronger than the last time because the last time we had lots of experience and looking forward to the game and there is no pressure on us because we are building. We hope to play a good brand of rugby,” he explained.
The visiting Kenyan side is lacking in experience because they decided not to bring the Sevens players who were part of the team that played the World Cup qualifiers last year and have opted to rope in six new caps for tomorrow’s match.
The match, pencilled for Prince Edward High School, is the opener for a tournament that involves World Cup-bound Namibia and Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge, who trimmed his squad to 26 on Wednesday, was set to name his starting 15 for his first-ever match in charge late last night.
