Kenya Simbas will make four changes to the side that will play Hong Kong in their second match of the repechage on Saturday in Marseille.
The changes are slated to come in the forwards, where former skipper Wilson K’Opondo and Oliver Mangeni are expected to start at lock in place of George Nyambua or Malcolm Onsando. Positional changes are also expected in the back line, where Collins Injera could shift to wing or fullback role with Peter Kilonzo coming to the inside centre. Speaking yesterday team manager, Wangila Simiyu, said they are exploring several options a for the match against Hong Kong after losing 65-19 to Canada in their opener on Sunday .
“We have reviewed the video of the match with the entire team and seen where we went wrong. We gave the ball away twice and conceded two soft tries to them . Our defensive alignment was also poor and we must be better in the second match,” added Simiyu.
Head coach Ian Snook said the side was too rusty, having only played one build-up match and missed first up tackles. “We must improve our phase play in both attack and defence and at the same time, re-group and get in good position in defence,” he added.
Skipper Davis Chenge said key to winning the game will be to stay focused for the entire eight minutes. “We were trailing by eight points by the start of the second half but the Canadians brought physicality to us and we could not keep up with them for the second half and we lost,” added Chenge. Hong Kong lost their opening match 26-9 to Germany and will be keen to get a result against the Simbas.
Elsewhere, Simbas have dropped in the latest world rugby ranking from position 28 to 29. This comes after the 65-29 defeat to Canada.
Canada and Germany were both rewarded for victories in the opening round of the repechage with improved ranking. The North Americans moved up to 21st following the win while Germany climbed to 26th from 29 while Hong Kong drop to 24 from 21.