Odera’s men eye Zimbabwe’s scalp

Kenya rugby 15s team is shifting its focus to the Victoria Cup return match against Zimbabwe to be played on September 21 at the RFUEA ground, Nairobi.

Paul Odera charges were in rampant form at the weekend scoring four tries to beat visitors Zambia 31-16 and will battle it out with Zimbabwe in a dead rubber match as the latter have already won the Victoria Cup after defeating Uganda 32-26 in Bulawayo on Saturday.

Kenya fondly known as ‘Simbas’ lost the first leg against Zimbabwe 30-29 in Bulawayo three weeks ago, and according to Odera he’ll make some tactical changes for the duel.

“We need to work on our kicking which is my main concern because if we had converted all our tries against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, we could have beaten them since they narrowly beat us with a point,” said Odera.

The Simbas are expected to take a one week rest to allow the players who turn out for their clubs participate in the final two legs of the National Rugby Seven Circuit –  the Christies Sevens set for Nairobi this weekend –  and the Driftwood Sevens (Mombasa) set for September 7 to 8.

Upon conclusion of the circuit, the players will be assessed ahead of the Zimbabwe encounter for possible injuries and fatigue.

“A player like Jacob Ojee didn’t play to his best on Saturday probably due to fatigue because he played in the sevens, traveled to Uganda for the Elgon Cup then to Zambia and Zimbabwe, so players like him need to be managed carefully,” explained Odera.

Kenya lost their first Victoria Cup encounter against Uganda 16-13 in Nairobi which also doubled up as an Elgon Cup fixture, before winning the return match 15-5 in Kampala.