NAIROBI, Kenya, August 3 – Kenya will commence their Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) under 19 tournament against Morocco on Tuesday evening at the Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) grounds.
A win or loss for the hosts will see them play either Kenya B or Tunisia on Thursday. Kenya B replaced Ivory Coast who withdrew from the competition at the last minute.
Impala hooker Mathew Musalia will lead Kenya’s charge in the competition with a team that will feature some of the players that took part in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Junior World Rugby Trophy in which Kenya finished fourth.
Robert Ouko, Joseph Abala, Kevin Gacheru, George Mutuku and Jeremy Njoroge are the other players who have been retained in the squad.
Former Kenya international Mitch Ocholla will once again handle the junior team and has called up Kenya Harlequins winger Willy Ambaka and Douglas Nyakwara.
Favourites Namibia will curtain raise the day’s proceedings against Zambia at 11 p.m. followed by Zimbabawe v Uganda at 1 p.m. and then Tunisia v Kenya at 3 p.m.
Kenya Rugby Football Union (KRFU) chairman Richard Omwela said that he was delighted that Kenya was selected to host this tournament after staging the JWRT in April and that the experience gained will help ensure that the tournament runs smoothly.
"This is an important tournament for CAR and we are humbled to be named as hosts because of our organisational ability," said Omwela.
Draw:
Pool A: Namibia, Morocco, Kenya, Zambia
Pool B: Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Kenya B, Uganda
Day 1 Fixtures:
Namibia v Zambia (11 p.m.), Zimbabwe v Uganda (1 p.m.), Tunisia v Kenya B (3 p.m.), Kenya v Morocco (5 p.m.)
Day 2 Fixtures:
Loser Namibia/Zambia v Loser Zimbabwe/Uganda, Loser Tunisia/Kenya B v Loser Morocco/Kenya, Winner Namibia/Zambia v Winner Zimbabwe/Uganda, Winner Tunisia/Kenya B v Winner Morocco/Kenya
