Wobbling Simbas fail to roar against Russia

Kenya national rugby 15s lost their second game of the Cup of Nations tournament, falling 31-10 to Russia in a match played at the Kings Park Sports ground in Hong Kong on Tuesday

Trailing 19-3 by halftime after starting the match brilliantly through a penalty scored by Darwin Mukidza in the 8th minute, Kenya lost control of the game afterwards, allowing their opponents to score five tries and three conversions.

Russia, 20th in the world ranking, had the most possession after Jerome Paarwaters boys took the lead, which ensured that they had the space to pass the ball freely.

Kenya got a blow after their Number 8 Joshua ‘Beast’ Chisanga got injured in the 18th minute giving way for Elkeans Musonye.

Sitting fourth in the group after the loss to Chile, it got worse for Kenya after Russia got a converted try by German Davydov in the 27th minute.

Having  most of the ball, the defending champions got their second try in the 31st minute, scored by Evgeny Nepeyvoda, missing the conversion to give Russia a 12-3 lead.

It took six minutes for Nepeyvoda to add his second try, this time Schev scoring the conversion for a 19-3 lead.

Kenya was lucky in the start of the second half after Schev dropped the ball in their dangerous area near their box.

Paarwaters brought in Neto Simiyu for Biko Adema but it was for Russia to score a converted try by Shev for a 26-3.

Having played for five minutes, Simiyu scored the only try for the Simba in the 49th minute, with Darwin Mukidza scoring the conversion to make it 10-26.

But the Russians were undone, scoring their fifth and last try in the 59th minute through Anton Ryabov, but missing the conversion for a 31-10 lead.

A lot of mistakes by the Kenyan side made in the dying minutes of the game minimized their chances to come back in the game. Kenya’s last match will be against Hong Kong on Saturday.