Kenya Rugby National team are also known as the Simbas which translates into Lions in Swahili language.
The Simbas currently compete in the Rugby Africa Cup, a biennial men’s rugby tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on World Rugby rankings. The cup is organized by Rugby Africa which is the administrative body for Rugby within the continent for World Rugby.
The Simbas are currently ranked 33rd in the World Rugby Rankings. They are yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.
What you need to know about the Simbas
– The jersey colours are predominantly red, green, black and white. The jersey is made up of a red top with black, red and green delicately styled across the shoulders and biceps. This is accompanied by black shorts with green socks. The second jersey has green as its predominant colour for the top with other parts of the jersey more like its first.
– The Simbas had their first international match against Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1954. Their biggest win came against the Nigeria National rugby team (96-3) on 10 August 1987 while their most severe defeat was against Portugal (85-0) on 12 November 2022.
– The national stadium of the Simbas is the RFUEA ground located on Ngong road in Nairobi, Kenya. It has a 6,000 capacity but is also expandable to up to 15,000 capacity.
– Jerome Paarwater is the current head coach of the Simbas. He doubles as the head coach of the Western province which competes in the Currie Cup.
He was formerly a forwards coach and an assistant with the Western province and the Stormers respectively, between 2003 and 2007.
– The current captain of the team is Daniel Sikuta, currently playing for the Simbas in the 2022 Currie Cup First Division. His favoured position is the flankers role. Joel Nganga has the most caps for the team (52) and Darwin Mukidza is the team’s all-time top scorer (385) while he also doubles as the top try scorer (18).
– The Simbas are currently ranked 33rd in the world. Their highest-ever ranking came in 2016 when they were ranked 22nd while their lowest-ever ranking (51st) lasted between 2003 and 2004.
