Revealed: Why Kenya Simbas will miss final Currie Cup fixtures

Kenya Simbas will miss the final two games of the Currie Cup First Division Mzansi Challenge owing to financial constraints.

Simbas were expected to be in South Africa this weekend for meetings with Valke and SWD Eagles, the former hoping to host them on Saturday, but Kenya did not travel.

It has now emerged that a financially-struggling Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) could not cater for the traveling costs of the squad to South Africa and opted out of the two games, which will take Simbas’ missed matches in the tournament to four.

Simbas were expected to travel to South Africa on Friday but had not done so by evening, leading to speculations on what might have been.

Valke confirmed Kenya’s absence on Saturday, announcing on the club’s social media pages that the match against Simbas had been cancelled.

“Important Notice. Kindly note that the game against Kenya has been cancelled,” Valke said via a Facebook post.

“And the kick-off for Kempton Wolwe Rugby against Benoni Northerns Rugby Club has changed to 16:00 at Barnard Stadium. Thank you for your support!”

The message came three days after the club had announced that they were set to host Simbas this weekend.

Simbas, who are ranked seventh on the table after beating Zimbabwe Goshawks last weekend, have witnessed a turbulent time in the tournament, missing the first two games against Boland Cavaliers and Leopards, before losing the first two to Eastern Province Elephants and San Clemente Rhinos.

They would win their third match, a 30-26 victory against Boarder Bulldogs, but Namibia’s Welwitschias handed them a 35-28 loss before last weekend’s 48-7 thrashing of Zimbabwe Goshawks in Nakuru.

It is not known yet if there will be any consequences for Kenya who had been threatened to be thrown out of the tournament after missing their first two matches.