Nyambua laments mistakes in Simbas, Hong Kong draw

George Nyambua bemoaned mistakes as he skippered the national rugby 15s side to a 19-19 draw in Sunday’s test match against Hong Kong in Nairobi.

The hosts found themselves chasing the game following sloppy pieces of play brutally capitalized by their opponents.

Nyambua rallied his charges into earning the draw with his try as well as one apiece from Alex Olaba and Dennis Muhanji helping the new-look Simbas avoid defeat.

Assistant Head Coach Dominique Habimana handed six players their national debuts against the side ranked 24th in the world, one place above Kenya.

The last time the two teams met was on Saturday 27 August, 2016 at Nairobi where Jerome Paarwaters guys defeated Hong Kong 34 -10.

Hong Kong were leading 14-0 in the 15th minute but after several racks from the hosts, team captain Nyambua crossed over in the 23rd minute Adela adding the extras for a 14-7 score line.

Alex Olaba scored a solo try during his full debut with Adela missing the conversion to make it 14-12 by halftime.

Shaky defending from the Kenyan defense handed their visitors a 19-12 lead after halftime, with Kenyan Dennis Muhanji becoming the hero in the 63rd minute when he scored a try which was converted by Adela to make it 19 -19.

“We had flashes of brilliant but for a test match you have to play for eighty minutes,” Habimana said.

Kenya’s technical bench has another chance to explore their depth and build a team for the world cup qualifiers next season on Saturday when they host Hong Kong again in a test match.

On their part visiting Hong Kong expected a tough game from a better Kenyan side according to Head Coach Leigh Jones.

“It’s a massive preparation for both of us for the world cup qualifiers next season and for me this is where it starts to measure where we are with 2019 in our mind.” Jones said.

“The atmosphere is different with what we experienced last year there is a vibrate cloud which the guys enjoyed to play in it,” he added.

Hong Kong captain Jamie Tseng was disappointed not to win the game that to him they threw it away from their hands.

Kenya plays Hong Kong again on Saturday 26 August at the RFUEA Grounds Nairobi.