We will play hard and win for the poor: Otieno

By BS MULAVI

"We will play hard and win for all the people in Kenya, especially the poor in the rural areas." This was the message from national fifteens team coach Michael ‘Tank’ Otieno.

Otieno who was unveiling the squad that will play in Morocco for the Confederation of African Rugby tourney said:

"When we were in Daaba, Samburu for the team retreat, we came across some of the poorest families and when we saw them play rugby with us, that was just magical and it really inspired us to ensure when we go to Morocco, we will fly our national flag high."

"Most people look at Kenya and only see the life in Nairobi and other urban areas but there are Kenyans in the rural areas who also need representation and recognition," he added.

Jump six slots

Kenya leaves for Morocco on Sunday for the four-team tournament between July 8 and 11. The event will feature the host’s Morocco, Senegal and Cameroon. Kenya stands to jump six slots to 33rd position in the IRB rankings should they win the tournament.

"We are trying to get into the top 25 positions in the IRB rankings, to qualify for extra development funding from the IRB and also to easily qualify for the 2015 rugby World Cup," Otieno told Feverpitch yesterday.

Otieno named a strong squad but left out some of the core sevens players who were ruled out due to different commitments. "We have to accept that sevens players also have lives of their own, so when I spoke to players like Injera (Collins), Kayange (Humphrey) Adema (Biko) and Asego (Lavin), I understood why they chose to be left out."

He named four debutants in the team with Nondies maestro Gray Cullen leading the fray, the others being Patrice Agunda, Peter Kepha and Kelvin Omiyo.

 

 

Read all about: Confederation of African Rugby Morocco IRB

 

 

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