Kenya Simbas Left With Sour Tastes in Kampala as They Settle For Fouth at Rugby Africa Cup

Kenya Simbas Left With Sour Tastes in Kampala as They Settle For Fouth at Rugby Africa Cup

Mark Kinyanjui 18:30 - 19.07.2025

Kenya Simbas end Rugby Africa campaign in dissapointing version as they settle for yet another fourth place finish.

Kenya's national rugby 15s men's side Simbas closed out a frustrating Rugby Africa Cup campaign with a 15–5 loss to Algeria in the third-place playoff on Saturday, ending their World Cup qualification journey in disappointment and settling for fourth place overall.

After a heartbreaking 29–23 semi-final defeat to Zimbabwe, the Simbas entered their final match in Kampala hoping to leave Uganda on a high. But it was Algeria who started like a house on fire, and the Kenyans never truly recovered.

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First Half

Algeria landed their first try within the opening two minutes through fullback Benjamin Caminati, who slalomed his way through the Kenyan defence to land it home, although it was not converted.

The Kenyans would restore parity in a splendid version though, equalising with another try through Timothy Omela following an intense maul in Aleria’s 22-meter box that left them disoriented, but Brian Wahinya could not convert it.

However, the Algerians would restore their lead in the 20th minute through Kamil Bouregba, who also found the scoresheet from a maul. A well executed line up by Algeria resulted in the North African outfit pinning back the resilient Kenyan defence, before they finally landed it home and then converted well to make it 12-5.

From then on, the game became a damp squib, with both sets of defences working very hard to contain themselves, and it made it difficult for tries to be scored, and both sides went into the break with just the seven point difference.

Second Half

The theme continued in the second half, with Kenya having alot of the ball, but not looking to threaten the opposition. 

Simbas’ mystery would be compiled in the 76th minute when a well executed drop goal by Hugo Verdu all but sealed the win for Algeria to give them an extra three points and a 15-5 win in the end.

The defeat caps off a disappointing tournament for Jerome Paarwater’s men, who had hoped to build on their promising early win over Uganda in the quarter-finals. That momentum evaporated with the narrow loss to Zimbabwe and now the tame finish against Algeria.

Simbas will now have to wait until 2031 to stand a chance of taking part in a World Cup for the first time in their history.