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By Kimathi Kamau


NAIROBI adidas nmd predaj , Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Kenya were left to rue an erraticdisplay as they battled to salvage a 19-19 draw with visiting HongKong of China in the first of two World Rugby Test clashes playedin Nairobi on Sunday.


Six players were handed their debuts in the home team known asShujaa as South African head coach, Jerome Paawater sought toexperience the depth of his squad.


"We started off a bit slow but picked up the pace in the secondhalf. Small lapses cost us but a good result as we look forward tothe second Test," Simbas Team Manager, Wangila Simiyu said afterthe contest.


"We had too many errors and we were almost punished for it. Wehad flashes of brilliance but you must play for the full 80 minutesin a Test match," Simiyu added.


"This is a game we should have won and it's unfortunate we couldnot do it," Hong Kong coach, Leigh Jones who expected a muchtougher contest stated.


The much-changed Simbas failed to breakdown The Dragons at thepacked Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) Grounds inNairobi and Paarwater will hope for a better showing when the sidesmeet again next Saturday.


Simbas suffered their first setback in the fifth minute of theencounter when seasoned Biko Adema went down injured leading tostoppage of play the before the he was forced off and Kenny Andolacame on in his place.


Kenya then fell behind when Matt Rosslee grounded the ball forthe first try before kicking over the extras for 0-7 to Hong Kingin the ninth and barely six minutes later, The Dragons stunnedSimbas when Tyler Spitz crossed the whitewash for their secondfive-pointer.


The boot of Rosslee did the rest to make it 0-14 but the crowdat RFUEA was up on its feet in the 21st when George Nyambua, whowas captaining the side for the first time led by example, wentover for Simbas first try.


Andola split the posts as Kenya halved the deficit to 7-14before an attempted drop goal from the same player sailed wide.


Simbas vice-captain, Patrice Agunda was then sent to the sin binin the 36th but the 14 men hit back barely two minutes later whenAlex Olaba capped his brilliant run by notching Kenya's secondtry.


Andola missed the conversion for 12-14 when the ball sailed wideas the hosts went in for the break trailing The Dragons.


Shortly after the sides switched sides Paarwater brought onSamson Onsomu for Lyle Ailigwa but it was Hong Kong, who were outto atone for their defeat at the same venue last year, who extendedtheir advantage.


Liam Slaten went over but the conversion was missed as thescoreboard read 19-14 in favour of the visitors.


Muhanji then scored Simbas third try and Andola converted tolevel the scores when he sent the ball flying through theposts.


Agunda was then replaced by the Benjamin Marshall who marked hisfirst run out for the Simbas before Kenya spurned the final chanceof the match when a knock on denied the hosts a final flourish in amatch they failed to get the better of the Dragons. Enditem

Yan Lianke,writer.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Leading Chinese universities have been using creative writing workshops to help nurture the country's literary talent for a few years now, although debate about whether writers can be trained has gone on at least since 2009.


Renmin University has taken this approach a step further by launching its first postgraduate course for creative writing earlier this month.


It has also used a special way to select candidates called "independent recruitment" to help find talent for the course.


"We hoped to focus more on the candidates' writing rather than other elements which are examined in the existing system, like scores of English or other subjects," says Yan Lianke, an established writer and professor at the university.


"It also made it easier for us to find people that write really well," says Yan, adding the eight students for the course were picked by a committee of evaluators.


Yan compared the selection process to a trial conducted in 1988, when the LuXun Literature Institute and Beijing Normal University launched a similar master's course.


Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun, Chi Zijian and Yan Geling, all of whom have become major writers with their own styles and contributions, attended that course.


In the recent past, the trend of creative writing courses was started by Shanghai's Fudan University in 2009. But writer Wang Anyi who has been helping train potential writers there, says that "students tend to imitate. They struggle to find their own voices".


More universities then joined the bandwagon to offer a master's degree in creative writing, following a model pioneered by the University of Iowa in the United States, which began offering the course in the 1930s.

Liu Zhenyun, writer.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The university jumped into the fray last year, even as the discussion over whether writers can be trained by universities continues.