Odera relishes Kenya Simbas' foray into Currie Cup

Kenya Simbas coach Paul Odera has welcomed the inclusion of the national team in South Africa's top domestic rugby competitions, the Currie Cup.

“We are excited by this development and for sure this tournament will help us gauge our systems before the Rugby World Cup Africa Qualifiers,” said Odera Tuesday.

“This is a good challenge but we shall resume training fully upon the completion of the Kenya Cup.”

Kenya will participating for the first time in this premier tournament that features South Africa's best players.

Simbas will be joined by Georgia and Zimbabwe in the competitions that kicks off on April 1 with the final scheduled for June 24 or 25.

South Africa Rugby announced Monday that the three countries will battle seven elite local teams.

The three national teams will be hoping that playing at least nine matches in Currie Cup can prepare them adequately for their quest for qualification to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

The final eight-nation Africa Qualifiers will be held in the French cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence from July 1-10 this year.

Kenya will open their quest against Uganda on July 1 for a semi-final berth against either Senegal or Algeria.

A week ago, Odera named as expanded training squad of 81 players that will be whittled down to 40 and then the final 35 for the qualifiers.

“We are looking forward to starting training as a group in three weeks’ time after the Kenya Cup is concluded,” said Odera.

“The players are at the moment going through conditioning and skills training.”

The Kenya Cup will end on March 12.

Odera said they can’t interfere with the clubs at the moment since the clubs have invested heavily in the players for the Kenya Cup and KRU Championship leagues.

“Playing high quality matches will be good for the players but preparations are key before any engagement,” explained Odera.

Kenya and Namibia participated at the 2014 Vodacom Cup, a second tier domestic competition in South African, as part of their preparations for the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

It was noteworthy that Kenya Simbas missed qualifying for that World Cup by a whisker when they tied with Namibia and Zimbabwe with 10 points.

Namibia topped on points difference to qualify directly alongside automatic qualifiers South Africa, while Zimbabwe, who finished second, to proceed to the repechage, but did not make the world finals in England.

Kenya and Zimbabwe will field full-strength teams in the Currie Cup, but Georgia will rely on local-based stars as many first choice players are unavailable due to club commitments in France.

Georgia lead the 2021-2022 Rugby European Championship by nine points from Romania. The the top two finishers will earn World Cup places.

Kenya and Zimbabwe are among eight countries playing in the 2022 Africa Cup in France from July 1 with the winners qualifying for the World Cup and the runners-up entering an inter-continent repechage tournament.

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