On Wednesday 24th July 2024, the Kenya Simbas fell 12-20 to Algeria in the 2024 Rugby Africa Cup tournament held in Uganda at the Nelson Mandela Stadium.
Algeria were first to register points on the scoreboard as they drilled in a penalty kick in the opening ten minutes of the match. Thirteen minutes later, Kenya Simbas took the lead as Eugene Sifuna went over the whitewash to land a center post try, Timothy Omela added the extras giving Kenya a 7-3 lead. Seven minutes later, Algeria leap frogged to the lead with an unconverted try, scoreboard now reading 7-8 in their favour.
In the dying minutes of the first half, Beldad Ogeta took matters into his own hands as he cut through defenders while rounding others to land Kenya’s second try. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful and scores at the break were 12-8 in favour of Kenya.
The second half, Kenya conceded several penalties from which Algeria did not hesitate to maximize on as they split the uprights four times to take the 20-12 lead. Kenya’s attempts at salvaging a victory were unsuccessful and the match ended 12-20 in Algeria’s favour.
Kenya Simbas will face Namibia on Sunday 28th July in the third place playoff.
