Former Strathmore Leos and Kenya Simbas back-row Tony Owuor was fetted the Most Valuable Player during the Tatu City Test series match against Hong Kong at the RFUEA grounds on Saturday.
He stood out during the match that saw the Simbas run rout over the visitors by an impressive 34-10 margin.
He summarised the entire match in three words, “ Hard and successful.”
He however admits the Simbas have a long way to go before they to go into the 2019 Japan World Cup qualifiers.
Hong Kong seemed settled and collected before the match started, not until the Simbas started mauling through their shaky defense. They struggled to get into play and they had a hard time absorbing the pressure which was constantly piled by the Simbas right from the kick off
The Dragon’s head coach Leigh Jones, however attributed his side’s dismal performance in the Test match to inaccuracies.
“Today’s match was not dissimilar to Tuesday’s loss to Kenya “A”. We looked like a side that had never played together and we struggled to put any constructive phases together. They scored 3 or 4 tries purely as a result of us turning the ball over. At this level you get punished for those errors and that was the case,” said Jones.
“It is just getting guys used to playing under this type of pressure. At the moment, the step up is too much for some of them, which forces a large number of errors. But the only answer is to expose them to this level of rugby more often.”
Kenya Simbas will now await another test match in October as they conclude their international test series matches after a successful year beating Brazil, Zimbabwe, Uganda and losing to Namibia.
Meanwhile, the Kenya U-19 team ‘Chipu’ beat a resilient Tunisia to maintain the Division 1 “A” status of the African U19 Championship after a narrow 24-17 win.
The victory was decided at sudden death with a try from substitute Stanley Isogol after the match ended 17-17 in regular time.
Chipu scored three tries through Isogol, prop James Wanjala and scrum half Michael Kimwele while fly half Henry Ayah added three conversions and a penalty. Tunisia on the other hand scored through winger Mohamed Gharmoul scoring twice and centre Slim Gazzeh, while fly half Dhia Dhiab added one conversion.
Namibia beat Zimbabwe 42-29 to win the tournament and qualify for the 2017 Junior World Rugby Championships.