Currie Cup: Kenya Simbas' departure delayed

Financial constraints have forced Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) to defer Kenya Simbas' departure to South Africa for the Currie Cup First Division.

The Simbas were scheduled to leave the country on Monday ahead of their first match against Georgia on Saturday.

Kenya Simbas director Ray Olendo disclosed Wednesday that the team will now leave on April 4 or 5 for the event that will have three national foreign teams participating. 

Besides Kenya and Georgia, Zimbabwe have been invited for the competition that will end on June 25 this year.

They will join seven other teams from South Africa in the competition that starts on Saturday.

The other teams are defending champions Leopards, Down Touch Griffons, Valke Falcons, Boland Cavaliers, Eastern Province Elephants, Border Bulldogs and South Western Districts (SWD) Eagles.

“We have requested for the organisers to move our matches forward and we are still waiting for the feedback,” said Olendo.

The three national teams are hoping that playing at least nine matches in the Currie Cup will prepare them adequately ahead of the qualifiers for 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 Senegal or Algeria.

Olendo said that even though there are 55 players in training, not all will make it to South Africa.

“It’s a three-month long event and some will be in school or attending to personal commitments, while others are based outside the country,” Olendo said.

“We shall have some players joining the team later with others returning to the country.”

Kenya and Namibia participated at the 2014 Vodacom Cup that is the third most prestigious in South African rugby after Super Rugby and the Currie Cup ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup that was hosted in England.

Kenya missed out on the 2015 Rugby World Cup by a whisker when they tied with Namibia and Zimbabwe with 10 points each in the Africa qualifier.

Namibia topped to qualify directly alongside automatic qualifiers South Africa, while Zimbabwe finished second to proceed to the repechage.

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

Georgia lead the 2021-2022 Rugby European Championship by nine points from Romania where the top two finishers will secure 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.