Sikuta, Odera pick lessons from Currie Cup whitewash

Kenya men’s national 15’s side, Simbas suffered an 85-17 demolition at the hands of an assembled Carling Champions Team with skipper Dan Sikuta and head coach Paul Odera picking positives from the match.

The game was the first test for Simbas in their South African tour as they still have two-game lined up in the Stellenbosch Quadrangular tournament and an International Friendly to complete their November itinerary.

Having played against a team with fully professional players, Sikuta opened up on the significance of the game and emphasized the experience gained from the clash. 

“This means a lot to us as a team, we expected to have a good run but the result has not gone our way, as a team we need to build on what we have gotten from the game,”

“We just need to continue ticking the small boxes, this is a start for us ahead of the World Cup qualifiers next year and I thank Rugby Africa for being with us on this journey,” said Sikuta.

One of the silver linings in Simba’s dark cloud was Fijian born Jone Kubu who registered 12 points in the game including a try with Brian Tanga the only other Kenyan to get a try in the clash. 

Odera revealed that he had a plan for the game and urged the players not to focus on the outcome of the game as they were realistic in their targets. 

"We were quite realistic going into this game and we had set a target that the scoreline and the result was not going to be realistic, the challenge as a coach is what you tell them after and we set individual milestones,"

"I looked at getting the scrums right, the outside centres were looking at how to get their tackles right and on attack, we had a plan and what the players could do with the plan," said Odera.