On Saturday 15th April 2023, the Kenya Simbas kicked off their Mzansi Challenge campaign with a gallant performance against the San Clemente Rhinos despite going down 22-33 at the Charles Morkel Stadium in Cape Town.
The Rhinos drew first blood with an unconverted try before the mercurial Andrew Matoka sliced the uprights with a penalty kick reducing the gap to 5-3. They(Rhinos) exploited the gaps in Simbas’ defense line twice landing a converted try in each occasion for the half time scores to read 19-3.
The half time talk from Coach Jerome was very efficient as they came back guns blazing, Ntabeni Dukisa, read the room perfectly, spotted and exploited a gap in his opponent’s defensive line to score a center post try. He also added the extras, scoreboard reading 19-10. The Rhinos would quickly respond with a converted try off a maul before reserve player Brian Wahinya cut through the opponent’s defense to dive over the whitewash. Dukisa added the extras: Simbas 17 – Rhinos 26.
Simbas’ momentum was on an all-time high in this match as inside center Walter Okoth with a big carry bounced off his oncoming defenders to land the Simbas third try with the conversion being successful. A slight moment of lapse in the Simbas defense resulted in Rhinos landing the try that cemented their victory in this match. The match ended 33-22 in favour of the San Clemente Rhinos.
“I am very happy with the team’s performance today considering it is the first game of the year. The team left Nairobi yesterday so we only had a blow out session this morning to keep them going. In the second half we had to make changes so that we don’t get them too tired since the recovery time has not been as good as we would have wanted. Now we let them rest fully and then start the hard work on Monday to prepare for the upcoming matches,” Head Coach Jerome Paarwater.
