Kenya’s coach Paul Odera, whose team lost 37-18 in Saturday’s Barthes U20 Cup South final in Windhoek, Namibia on Saturday 31 March has said his side was beaten by a better organised and conditioned team.
“Their bench made the difference because everyone who came in brought a new dimension to the game which my boys failed to handle. Our tactics were to make sure that on attack we will have to play with speed and width throughout the 80 minutes,” he told The Namibian Newspaper.
He added that Namibia is setting the standard in Africa at both senior and junior level.
Odera said having lost to the same opponents 66-24 in the final last year, he felt they have improved this year.
Namibian coach Rodger Hesron Thompson said it was a tough game for his boys as their opponents keep on improving every year.
“We are rebuilding a young team again; we lost about 15 boys that went to Uruguay last year for the World Rugby u20 Trophy. We are rebuilding with a lot of youngsters this year and that is why the transition was not good today,” he said.
Thompson paid tribute to Kenya who challenged Namibia. He was, however, not pleased with his side’s “indiscipline” which led to penalties.
Namibia will now face Tunisia who won the North final to determine Africa’s representatives at this year’s Junior World Rugby Trophy.
