Kenya Simbas get last chance at World Cup qualification

Crest-fallen Kenya Simbas will now have a last stab at the 2023 France Rugby World Cup qualification at the Repechage tournament scheduled for November 6 to 18 this year in Dubai.

Kenya Simbas suffered another heartbreak in their quest to grace the Rugby World Cup for the first time after a humiliating 36-0 loss to Namibia in the final of the African qualifiers at the Maurice David Stadium in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille on Sunday.

Simbas will face Portugal, the loser of Asia/Pacific play-off between Tonga and Hong Kong and the loser of Americas Three final between Chile and United States at the Repechage.

Kenya Simbas head coach Paul Odera said that his team played well in the first 20 minutes, but completely lost it especially in the second half.

“Our defensive structure was good and we were playing in the right parts of the field. However, we made errors at crucial times, “explained Odera.

“We missed tackles, missed kicks to touch and handling errors were all punished by a clinical team.”

However, Odera noted that their maul defence and scrum were much better.

Namibia will now join 16 other teams that have so far qualified for the 2023 World Cup to be held from September 8 to October 28 next year in France.

Namibia booked their place in Pool “A” that has the hosts, New Zealand, Italy and Uruguay.

In case Kenya win at the Repechage, they will join Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia in Pool “C”.

The Namibians, who have now beaten Kenya in 12 of their 14 Test meetings, were 15-0 up at the break after breaking Kenya's early resistance in the game.

Back row Wian Conradie, who plays for the New England Free Jacks in the United States, touched down a hat-trick of tries as centre and skipper Johan Daysel scored Namibia's other try.

Fly-half Clive Loubser made two conversions and four penalties to catapult Namibia to their seventh consecutive Rugby World Cup appearance.

"We had a big build-up to this game," Deysel told Canal+ after victories over Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe in the quarter-finals and last four of the Africa Cup, which doubled up as World Cup qualifiers.

"We knew Kenya are always tough. We had to leave everything on the field and we did it," the centre added.

"We're not scared at all," Namibia hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld told Canal+.

"It's always an honour to play in a World Cup, not every player plays at a World Cup.
"It's a very high standard. It's going to be hard but we're going to work," the 35-year-old Bayonne forward added.

Namibia also got to keep the Rugby Africa Gold Cup trophy after exploits.

Kenya showed much promise with good attack and defence to keep Namibia on toes even, but lost concentration to give away possession easily.

Namibia capitalised on Kenya’s errors that included wild kicking to launch attacks, one which saw Collins Injera make a try-saving tackle by holding up a Namibian attacker.

Namibia easily secured turnovers that enabled Wian Conradie to strike for their first try before Loubster, who missed the conversion, slotted over a penalty to stretch their lead to 8-0.

Despite their good display Conradie struck again as Loubser converted to lead 15-0 at the break.

Once again, Kenya, who staged some good running play on resumption, resorted to kicking, which went deep to the advantage of Namibia.

It gave Namibia a good launching pad for attacks, forcing the Kenyans to commit errors in the ruck, hence dishing out three consecutive penalties that Loubser curled over for a 24-0 lead.

It was thereafter that things went south for the Simbas who knocked-on several times in attack to blow away any chance of making a comeback.

The Namibians exhibited good running game as Conradie sealed his hat-trick with their skipper also getting on the scoreboard before the hooter went off.