Nairobi — The national women's rugby team coach Dennis Mwanja expects a physical and tactical test from South Africa when the two sides clash in their second pool game at the Rugby Africa Women's Cup in Madagascar.
Mwanja acknowledged their fellow Africans as one of the heavyweights of the tournament and a team well worth their salt.
"The game against the South Africans is going to be very physical and tactical. I've watched them play; they are very good in spreading the ball wide as well as defence. So, denying them everything and also countering everything they put in is going to give us an edge," Mwanja said.
He added: "They are a very fit and well drilled team. They are very worthy side and so we expect a very physical and tactical game."
Mwanja watched as the Lionesses kicked off their campaign on a winning note, a 29-20 win over the hosts at Stade Makis on Saturday evening.
Grace Adhiambo and Judith Akumu both chipped in with a brace of tries, in addition to a penalty try, to hand victory to the Lionesses after their hosts had broken the deadlock with a penalty to make it 3-0.
The former Kenya rugby sevens international was generally pleased with the result.
"First of all, winning against Madagascar at home is very commendable for the girls. What worked for us is we got into the game...hit the ground running and managed to try early in the games, which gave them (Madagascar) a lot of pressure," he explained.
Moreover, the coach identified areas of improvement ahead of the match against South Africa.
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"We missed out on a couple of opportunities. We missed out on our kicks, which would have made a big difference on the overall score. We were too close for them to think of catching up with us," Mwanja said.
He added: " But our scrums were dominant...we were also dominant in the forwards play. Though we did not convert it into points, we can work on that going forward."
The hosts occasionally threatened to stage a comeback, which Mwanja attributes to a lapse in concentration by his charges.
"We gave ourselves unnecessary pressure when we were not moving up to defend and so gave them enough time to spread the balls to the wide areas. This gave us a hard time in tracking them, instead of just going up against them, squaring and tackling them...so we need to work on this area. We also need to improve on the accuracy of our kicks," he said.
Other than South Africa, the Lionesses also face Cameroon in their final pool encounter.
