Prior to the first leg encounter with Uganda in the Elgon Cup, Kenya Simbas head coach Jerome Parwaater revealed that he wanted Rugby Cranes to bring their A game against his charges.
And, if his remarks after the game are anything to go by, the South African was quite impressed with the challenge put up by the Rugby Cranes despite the 23-18 loss at Legends.
The Simbas took an early 10-00 lead after capitalizing on Uganda’s mistakes early in the game to score a penalty and a converted try.
“It was a great game of rugby. First I must say it was deserving for both captains to come out like this,” Parwaater revealed at the blow of the final whistle.
Uganda were on course to securing the victory but eighth man Martin Owilla touched down for the Simbas and captain Darwin Mukidza converted to bring Kenya within 1 point of their rivals.
Mukidza then used his boot to convert two late penalties and hand his side the advantage in their bid to defend the Elgon Cup.
“Uganda came out firing, they played to win and fortunately this is what we want to prepare for the season ahead. We wanted a tough game and that is what we got.
“Uganda put us under pressure at the breakdowns in the first half but we corrected that in the second half. We got back to our structure but I must say the defence of Uganda was also good. We had to work for all our points,” Paarwater revealed.
Having lost to Germany in late May, the Simbas confronted the game in need of a win to boost their chances ahead of the Africa Gold Cup.
“Every week it’s going to be tough especially how we manage the squad. This was a tough game, two weeks ago we had a tough game against Germany fortunately for us we had no injury (against Uganda) so we are happy with that.” he said.
For the bigger part of the second half, Kenya trailed 17-18 and the introduction of Isaac Adimo and Newcastle Falcons’ Joshua Chisanga made the difference as Kenya ensured they took a 5-point advantage heading into the return fixture.
Kenya will host Uganda in the return leg of the Elgon Cup with the same fixture doubling as the two sides’ first game of the Africa Gold Cup.
Last year, Kenya defeated Uganda 45-24 in Nairobi to claim a whooping 93-34 aggregate win after two legs.