Buoyant Kenya set for Madagascar tourney

Kenya’s opponents at the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying tournament are leaving nothing to chance ahead of Saturday’s kick off in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Jerome Paarwater’s charges launch their quest against three times Africa representatives at the RWC finals Namibia on Saturday at 1pm and face Madagascar on Wednesday at 3pm. They will wrap up against Zimbabwe on Sunday next week at 3pm.

The event will double up as Confederation of Africa Rugby (CAR) Division 1A championship also known as Africa Cup. Kenya’s team left for Madagascar yesterday, so did Namibia, who represented Africa at the world finals in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.

Namibia will be hoping to reach their fifth final. Namibia have named a strong side to be skippered by PJ van Lill and have declared their intention to qualify for England and Wales 2015.

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However, they will do without their influential flanker Jacques Burger who is out with an injury. 

The last time Kenya played Namibia was during the Tri-Nations tournament in November last year where the former led for 60 minutes before losing 35-55.

Kenya had early in the year beaten Zimbabwe 29-17 to lift the 2013 Africa Cup in Madagascar. They also lost to Zimbabwe 14-29 in the same event.

Zimbabwe have deployed their experienced legion to aid their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 1987 and 1991. Lambert Groenewald, who features for South African provincial side Golden Lions is in the squad so is Durban-based Simba Mandiona, Denford Mutamangira, Danny Robertson and former Scotland U-20 flanker Andrew Rose.