NAIROBI — National men's rugby 15s player Samuel Asati believes they will perform well at next week's Rugby World Cup qualifiers in Uganda.
Asati says their month-long high performance training camp in South Africa has adequate prepared them for the tough battle ahead.
"Playing after three or four days was quite beneficial for us because this is the format we will playing in at the qualifiers. That is one thing we never did in 2022 in our preparations for the qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup," the Shujaa co-captain said.
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Asati has been part of coach Jerome Paarwater's side who spent the better part of June in South Africa sharpening themselves for the continental competition.
They played a number of friendlies down south, to varied results.
The Simbas began with a 17-17 draw with SWD Eagles in George on June 3 before losing 42-24 to South Africa's Under-20 side -- the Junior Boks -- six days later.
The Junior Boks' dominance over Paarwater's charges continued with an embarrassing 75-19 thrashing in Stellenbosch on June 14.
This was followed by a 42-26 loss to Sanlam Boland in Wellington on June 20 before recovering to outclass Supa Barbarians 27-24 in Limpopo -- four days later.
Simbas wound up their tour 42-35 loss to Limpopo Blue Bulls.
The mixed results notwithstanding, they will be looking to draw closer to 2027 World Cup qualification.
They kick off their campaign against the hosts on Tuesday; win the match and a duel with the winner of Zimbabwe v Morocco.
Speaking at the same time, Simbas team manager Jimmy Mnene noted the unenviable task ahead.
"Because they are playing at home, Uganda will obviously be cheered on and channeled by their fans. Each game at the World Cup qualifiers is like a final so for us we need to step up as players as well as the technical bench," Mnene said.
He expressed optimism that the team will reap positive results in Uganda considering the quality of players within the ranks.
"I honestly believe we have the best players we could have hoped for. Looking at the Kenya Cup...the four debutants, Vincent Mwikali, Samson Ovwamu, Patrick Sabatia and David Bunduki who has been playing with Griffons (in South Africa), I believe we have the best squad going into Uganda," Mnene noted.
Simbas will be hoping to go one better than 2014 when -- under the tutelage of Paarwater -- they came agonisingly close to qualifying for the 2015 World Cup in England.
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Kenya lost 27-10 to Zimbabwe in the final of the Rugby Africa Cup, which was the final round of the qualifiers.
The loss allowed Namibia to earn direct qualification, with Zimbabwe competing in the Repechage as Simbas missed out all together.
