NAIROBI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Former Kenya coach Benjamin Ayimba has warned the 15s rugby team to expect tough challenge from Morocco when the two sides meet in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup match in Casablanca on Saturday.
Ayimba, who has coached the Kenya Sevens team for over five seasons, says Kenya 15s team has what it takes to win and will but must be worry of the challenge Morocco will present. However, he believes it is Morocco that will be under pressure to deliver at home.
"Kenya has made a great milestone since they first beat Morocco in 2007 winning 23-16. But Morocco has been developing a strong team and will want to challenge for the title as any other opponent and they need to be taken seriously," he said Tuesday in Nairobi.
The 2018 Rugby Africa Gold Cup, which doubles as a Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification tournament, began last week as the top six teams in Africa, aside from South Africa, battle it out for a place at the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.
The Rugby Africa Gold Cup will be played in a round-robin format across seven match days between June 16 and Aug. 18.
It features Africa's top six nations that have not already qualified for the Rugby World Cup 2019 with Namibia the highest ranked team at 24 in the current World Rugby rankings, followed by Kenya (28), Uganda (37), Morocco (38), Tunisia (42), and Zimbabwe (44).
Zimbabwe Sables opened the campaign last week playing against Morocco's Atlas Lions in Harare.
Zimbabwe drew 23-23 with their opponents. But Kenya must exploit every chink in their opponents defense to stake claim to the win on Saturday.
It will be exactly 11 years to the day since their only win over the Moroccans in 2007 in Nairobi. Kenya have lost in their previous two visits to the North African country, losing 29-3 in 2005 and 29-11 in 2009.
A winning start in Morocco will undoubtedly give Kenya the much needed impetus ahead of two intense successive home fixtures against Zimbabwe (June 30) and Uganda (July 7) as they look to eventually top the log at the close of competition in August and become the fourth African country besides South Africa to represent Africa at the Rugby World Cup after Zimbabwe (1987, 1991), Cote d'Ivoire (1995) and Namibia (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015).
Kenya's squad for their Rugby Africa Gold Cup opener will be announced on Wednesday. Kenya team has been in training guided by New Zealand coach Ian Snook and will jet out on Thursday for Casablanca.
