Strathmore Leos’ Brian Nyikuli to Captain Kenya 15s against Portugal

Strathmore Leos’ Brian Nyikuli will captain the Kenya 15s team in their test match against Portugal set for this Saturday at the RFUEA Grounds.

Head Coach Jerome Paarwater released the names of 15 players who will battle against the Europeans, the number having been trimmed down from the 51 who have been training at the Barclays Sports Club ahead of the clash.

Kenya Cup and Enterprise Cup champions KCB Lions got the lion-share of slots in the team with six of its players making it to the final list. They include Darwin Mukidza, Fabian Olando, Jacob Ojee, Oliver Mang’eni, Moses Amusala and Curtis Ilako. Ojee and Mukidza will be making their full test debuts.

Top Fry Nakuru’s Sammy Warui, Kelvin Omiyo and Michael Okombe also made it to the final squad. Homeboyz's Emmanuel Mavala has also been handed his test debut and will be joined by teammate Joshua Chisanga. Kenya Harlequin's Isaac Adimo and Lyle Asiligwa also made the cut alongside Sammy Oliech of Impala Saracens.

The selected team will kick on with their training on Wednesday at the Barclays Sports Club. The final training session, commonly referred to as the ‘Captain’s Run’ in rugby jargon, will be held at 4.00pm on Friday at the RFUEA Grounds, just a day before the Portugal clash.

Kenya face Portugal who climbed one place up to 23rd in the latest World Rugby Rankings released last week with 57.40 points. Kenya on the other hand remained rooted in position 32 with 53.25 points. The Portuguese’s worst ranking was in 2012 at position 27, their best was 16 in 2012.

Both sides will use the match to garner some ranking points but Kenya Shimbas will also use it as preparation for the Rugby Afrique tournament where they will face Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


Replacements

Peter Karia (KCB), Duncan Mwangi (Kabras Sugar), Isaiah Nyariki, Martin Owillah (Top Fry Nakuru), Ronnie Mwenesi (Total Nondies), Robert Aringo, Vincent Mose (Resolution Impala Saracens), Dennis Muhanji (Kenya Harlequin)

And That's thesteifmastertake!!