Uruguay hands Kenya a baptism of fire in World Rugby Junior

Kenya’s Under 20 rugby team Chipu lost their 2019 World Rugby Junior trophy match opener 63-11 to Uruguay in a match played at the Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil last night.

Paul Odera charges scored their only try after reverse flanker Samuel Were went over the whitewash, the conversion going wide, adding to two penalties against Uruguay’s nine tries, six conversions and two penalties.

Chipu were trailing 39-3 at halftime and went on to concede more points to the ruthless 2008 champions marking their second appearance in the tourney,  after hosting the tournament in 2009 at the  RFUEA Grounds.

Speaking after the match, Kenya U20 vice-captain Dominic Coulson said the match was tough.

“It was tough because Uruguay had big strong forwards who exposed us making us divert out of our game plan which was to try and go wide but they were too quick giving us pressure which made us expose our weaknesses,” lamented Coulson.

Kenya will be seeking their first win on Saturday at 1 am (EAT) when they play host Brazil and Coulson says that they have to improve.

“In our next match, we have to stay deeper and try to expose our opponent’s flanks since we’ve quick wingers who can make runs and score tries.”

Coulson added that they have to take each match at a time to make progress in the tournament.