Kenya Simbas head coach Jerome Paarwater has made eight changes to the team to face Russia at the Cup of Nations in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Photo/KRU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 15 – Despite losing their second match at the ongoing Cup of Nations in Hong Kong, Kenya Simbas head coach Jerome Paarwater has termed the tournament as a perfect platform for their preparations ahead of the new season.
Simbas have a busy upcoming 2018 season with the Elgon Cup and Africa Gold Cup which will serve as the 2019 World Cup Qualifier awaiting them.
Paarwater went down 23-3 in their opener against Chile before suffering a 31-10 defeat to defending champions Russia and reacting on the performance the coach said:
“This competition has high standards and if we look at it in terms of preparation, it is good for us in terms of where we want to go,” Paarwater said.
“Yesterday’s (Tuesday) game was again a game of two halves. We managed to hold on in the first half but unfortunately two soft tries after they kicked behind us spoilt it for us. The scoreline doesn’t reflect the actual match, we had a lot of opportunities in the first half that we didn’t use,” the South African noted.
He added, “Too many 50-50 passes. We regrouped in the second half and scored a great try and after doing a video review of the game we had the opportunity to score five more tries. It’s all about patience and using our opportunities because as we can see if you squander your opportunities at this tournament, you don’t get them back and that is the difference between us and the other teams.”
Commenting on the team’s performance in light of the changes he made for the second match, Paarwater was content with the display of his new charges.
“I was very happy with the new guys and their performance. They did not disappoint. I told the team that it is a squad effort and everybody who traveled is going to get an opportunity to start. The important thing is depth in the squad and I am now confident knowing that these guys played a tough game and they must maintain their standards.”
The Kenya Simbas completes its assignments at the tournament with a clash against hosts Hong Kong at 12.00pm EAT on Saturday, November 18 at the Hong Kong Football Club.
-By Kenya Rugby Union website-
