NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 11 – Kenya Simbas head coach Paul Odera is optimistic of an improved show when the team plays their second Currie Cup match in South Africa after suffering a 51-14 loss against Valke in their opening match over the weekend.
The Kenyan boys landed in South Africa on Thursday and had their first match on Saturday, losing to a much more experienced and well-oiled side.
Second half tries from Samwel Asati and Brian Tanga, both converted by Jone Kubu were not enough for Odera’s side which trailed 31-0 at halftime.
“It was a tough game as we expected. Valke are currently second in the log. South Africa are the World Champions and the level of rugby here is very good. We also have not trained as a team since November last year when we came back. We had only four days of training to prepare so it is not surprising that we were not as sharp as we can be,” Odera told Capital Sport.
The tactician has picked out several areas he hopes they can improve on, before they face Zimbabwe after Easter on April 23 in their second outing.
He says the team needs to improve in attack and the transition from their own half to the opposition half and also says they need to do better in the ball presentation.
“We are at our best when we keep the ball in hand and play at pace. So that is what we will look to improve on attack,” said the coach.
He added; “In defence our chop tackles were reasonable, but we now need to improve on slowing the ball down legally using the ‘jackler’ at the tackle or contesting the breakdown. Our linespeed needs to improve a lot more, so that we can put teams under pressure by closing the space down.”
The post Odera expects huge improvement from Simbas ahead of second Currie Cup match appeared first on Capital Sports.