Battle lines drawn: Kenya Lionesses land tough pool in Confederation of African Rugbytournament

By GILBERT KOECH

National women’s 7s rugby team captain Doreen Remour. [PHOTO: DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

National women’s rugby sevens side The Lionesses   have been drawn in the ‘pool of death’ for Saturday’s Confederation of African Rugby tournament in Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos.

 The Lionesses are pooled against continental giants Senegal, South Africa and Madagascar in pool ‘A’.

  Kenya will play their first match of the tournament against   Madagascar at 10am on Saturday before battling it out with Senegal at noon before meeting South Africa in what is touted to be a mouth-watering clash at 2.30pm.

The Lionesses, who have been training at Nairobi’s Harlequin grounds along Nairobi’s Ngong Road, are optimistic of sailing through to the semis.

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The Kenyans will, however, be missing the services of Stacy Awuor, who sustained a leg injury in Hong Kong two weeks ago. Awuor will be replaced by Sheila Chajira.

Uganda, too, will not have a walk in the park, as they will face stiff opposition from Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Namibia in Group B.

The bulk of the teams arrived on Sunday while Senegal arrived on Monday. Tunisia were the first to arrive on March 28 to acclimatise.

Face stiff opposition

Kenya, who performed poorly in their debut Hong Kong Sevens, could not have asked for a tougher draw. The technical bench has been silent after arrival from Hong Kong but sources close to the team say theirs was a dismal show and hard lessons were learned.

 The one-day tournament will be spiced by a men’s competition in which Kenya Commercial Bank, Kenya Harlequin FC, Strathmore University and Homeboyz will compete. There will also be an age-grade and women’s final matches.

recent poor show

Kenya will be hoping to cast away recent poor show in Hong Kong, where they only managed to beat Papua New Guinea 12-5 with Janet Awino and Janet Akello scoring two tries and Awino converting one.

The Lionesses began on the wrong foot in their Pool C challenge, going down 35-0 to France and 24-7 to China.

But coach Kevin Wambua, who is optimistic of a good show said: “We will definitely rely on the home advantage to win the continental cup and we pray our rugby fans come out in large numbers to support the team.”

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