Kenya XVs CAR Campaign

The Kenya XVs will kick off their Confederation of Africa Rugby division 1A championship on Wednesday afternoon in Antananarivo Madagascar.

The KXVs with the CAR cup in 2011.

The team will face a familiar foe and neighbour in Uganda on that Wednesday for the first Semi Final, exactly 22 days after beating the rugby cranes 19-13 in Kampala to win the Elgon cup. The Kenya side remains largely unchanged with Uganda making 6 changes to the squad . Captain Alex Mubiru at hooker, second row Timothy Dumba and Fly half Japher Ochen miss out due to injury. Paul Barigye, Ambrose Kamanyire, Richard Lumu joining them on the side lines, in their place Joseph Aredo, Martial Tchumkam, Solomon Mawanda, Joel Anguyo, Dennis Kiwalabye and Brian Jjemba.

For Kenya, 7s Captain Andrew Amonde is joined by two of his team mates Fabian Olando and Oscar Ayodi into the side. They replace David Mogere, Dennis Muhanji and David Ambunya all who picked up knocks in the Elgon Cup. The inclusion of the three goes to show the seriousness the Kenyans accord this tournament and rightfully so.

The sevens captain might be deployed sparingly considering that he has just completed his most physically demanding season with the sevens. Expect either Oscar or Fabian partnering Nick Barasa in mid field with Agevi and Kuto on either wings. Captain Wilson Kopondo should start at second row for the first time in this side, and will give the forwards a more stable combination alongside Oliver Mangeni. The Kangethe twins should start in the front row with Sammy Warui.

Ken Andola's performance at Kampala will give Paarwater and his technical bench a hard time picking who starts at Fly half. Vice Captain Vincent Mose should keep his place at 15 with Achayo getting the nod ahead of Gibson Weru. Joshua Chisanga who owned Kyadondo Rugby Club over the eighty minutes in Kampala should be handed the license to do the same in Antananarivo. Mike Okombe and Brian Nyikuli holding the other back row positions.

There shouldn't be much change either in terms of tactics, we should have polished on any problems we had over the two legs. The Ugandans will come at us hard, there's no secret in that, matching them especially in the tight five will be vital. With Peter Mugona likely to stick with Sseguya at scrum half we should again look to exploit the 9-10 channel. Our backs should keep their dominant run going, this time with even more brutality.

A win against Uganda will have earned us a spot in next year's qualifiers, looking at the squad we sent to Madagascar, this will not be enough. We are going for the title. The other Semi Final sees hosts Madagascar face defending champions Zimbabwe. We will meet the winner of that match in the final on Sunday, or loser for the relegation play off on the same day.

Going into this competition Zimbabwe are ranked 31st, Kenya are in 37th, Uganda 42nd and Madagascar in 44th. Africa's highest ranked side outside SouthAfrica, Namibia in 23rd will be battling it our in 1B with Senegal (47), Botswana (77) and Tunisia (43) on the 11th and 15th in Senegal. The winner from 1B will earn promotion into 1A, with the last side in 1A relegated to 1B.

CAR Division 1A Fixtures :

Wednesday 10th July 2013 (Mahamasina Stadium)

12:30 Semi-Final 1: Uganda vs Kenya

14:30 Semi-Final 2: Zimbabwe vs Madagascar

Sunday 14th July 2013 (Mahamasina Stadium)

12:30 3rd/4th Position : Looser SF 1 vs Looser SF 2

14:30 Final : Winner SF 1 vs Winner SF 2

With that ladies and Gentlemen, all the best to the KXVs and Ramadhan Kareem to all my Muslim readers..

KWISHA....Nimeruka Nje!!!!