NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Junior rugby coach Paul Odera has said that Uruguay and Japan will be under pressure as they face off in the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy Championship, which will be staged in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil from July 9-21.
The junior Kenyan team nicknamed Chipu will be up against fellow upcoming giants, Uruguay, Japan and hosts Brazil during their stay in Sao Jose dos Campos.
The eventual winner of the tournament will have earned themselves a promotion to the 2020 World Rugby U20 Championship.
"Uruguay have been in this tournament for about seven consecutive years, Japan on paper seem to be the strongest team having been relegated from the U20 Championships. We have had video analysis sessions of this level of rugby, which the current team has not been exposed to before. The pace played by the teams in our pool is going to test us but we are confident in our defense which is what got us through Namibia," said Odera on Wednesday in Nairobi.
Kenya won the Africa Under-20 Trophy in April in Nairobi beating the defending Champions Namibia 21-18.
This is the second time Kenya will be featuring in this specific tournament, the first one being in 2009 when we hosted it at the RFUEA Grounds.
The Kenya U20 delegation traveling to Brazil on July 4 and coach Odera has named his final squad.
Odera has made three changes to the winning side that beat Namibia with Andrew Siminyu, Timothy Okwemba and John Okoth who missed out on the 2019 Barthes Cup coming on board.
They replace injured Beldad Ogeta and George Maranga who misses the tournament due to academic commitments.
Kenya will launch their title campaign against Uruguay on July 9, play against hosts Brazil on July 14 and wind up their action taking on Japan on July 17.
