Paarwater shores back line for second Hong Kong Test

The Kenya Rugby 15s head coach Jerome Paarwater has shored up his back line in readiness for the second Test against Hong Kong on Saturday at the country’s cathedral of the sport, Nairobi’s RFUEA Grounds.

Paarwater elected on instilling special defensive drills after the A team struggled to shut their opponents out during their first Test on Tuesday in their narrow 24-17 victory over the Dragons.

“The boys worked really hard. They showed great endurance and strength that, in the end, worked in our favor as we scooped a win against a tough opposition,” Team Manager, Wangila Simiyu told Citizen Digital.

“Among the few changes we need to make in the scrum is avoiding break in communication in the back line. We have a winning formula so we’ll be sticking by it and, hopefully, we can get a final round win against the opposition,” he underlined.

Former Simbas and Kenya 7s captain, Innocent “Namcos” Simiyu, was gifted the arm-band by Paarwater to lead a squad that boasted of experienced players and new talent.

He would, however, not see the game through after being injured in the first half.

Resolution Impala Saracens’s scrum-half, Samson Onsomu, was selected to step into the role, lighting up the stadium with arguably the try of the game, with his powerful dash down the flank for the crucial try that won Kenya the game.

-Hong Kong Unchanged-

Meanwhile, Hong Kong  retained 18 of the select squad members who lost to the hosts Kenya “A” side in a test match at the Impala Grounds .

Two players will earn their maiden caps with the technical bench rejigging their playing unit ahead of the second Test.

Mathew Rosslee from the Elite Rugby Programme (ERP) will start, as an outside centre while Liam Owens, an Under 20s graduate, will dictate the set plays in the back line at the fly half position.

Mike Parfitt and Fin Field will start from the bench with the latter earning his second cap after his test debut in the Asia Rugby Championship in June 2016.

Hugo Stiles, their Under 20 7s captain will also start in the reserves joining flanker Joey Cheung Ho-yin.

Rai Dees who is the Hong Kong rugby union General Manager of Performance and the manager for the Kenyan tour expects a revamped and polished Kenyan side at the RFUEA grounds on Saturday afternoon.

 “It looks as if they have been keeping their test squad together for awhile so we don’t expect many players from their ‘A’ squad to be selected,” he said.

“But the style of play looks similar across Senior and A level, so we expect more of the same from Kenya. In terms of mounting counter-attacks from deep and using their pace and physicality to their advantage. It is going to be a big challenge for us.”

Hong Kong is ranked 22nd in the global standings and a slip-up against the Simbas, ranked 24th will impact on their rankings

Hong Kong SAR XV v KENYA: 1. Ben HIGGINS, 2. Jamie TSANG, 3. Jack PARFITT, 4. Adrian GRIFFITHS, 5. Fin FIELD, 6. Nick HEWSON (Captain), 7. Mathew LAMMING, 8. Dan FALVEY, 9. Adam ROLSTON, 10. Liam OWENS 11. Charles HIGSON-SMITH, 12. Tyler SPITZ, 13. Matt ROSSLEE, 14. Jamie ROBINSON, 15. Ed ROLSTON. Reserves: 16. Alex POST, 17. Alex NG Wai-shing, 18 Adam FULLGRABE, 19. Mike PARFITT, 20. Tony WONG, 21. Joey CHEUNG Ho-yin, 22. Charles Cheung Ho-ning, 23. Hugo STILES.

– Additional reporting by Bernard Ndong