Sevens assistant coach Ochieng relishes the challenge against his developing teams

By BS Mulavi

Kenya National Sevens assistant coach Felix Ochieng is excited to find out how Kenya’s developing squads will fair against the top sides in Africa.

“With exception of South Africa, we are going to be hosting the best teams in the continent and we are expecting some very tough competition,” he said.

“Zimbabwe has qualified for the Sevens Rugby World Cup, Tunisia is a good side battling it out with Uganda to get core status in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens Circuit, while Namibia’s proximity to South Africa gives them an edge. I don’t think there is going to be an easy team, and this will be a cut-throat competition to decide the best side for the continent.”

Ochieng will be in charge of the team, in the absence of head Coach Mike Friday, who is currently in England.

The Kenyan technical bench opted not to field their full strength side so as to give them time rest before the final two legs of the IRB Sevens circuit in Scotland and England and most importantly the Sevens rugby World Cup to be staged in Moscow, Russia in June.

The event also gives the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) an opportunity to give the younger players a chance to play at a high level and hence gain some experience.

This will serve as a gauge for the upcoming players as they seek to catch the eye of the coaches and win call ups to the Senior national team.

Senior team offer

 As it stands Friday has only named seven players that are assured a place in the senior squad to the final two legs of the IRB circuit, with the other five players meant to be chosen from the tournament in Mombasa.

“This will be a good opportunity to gauge ourselves and our strengths,” said Ochieng. “We are seeded last in our pool and we will have to work hard for every victory and we need to ensure we win every game as we play them.”

“We do not want to be carried away, instead we want to play one game at a time and if we can win all our games we can win the tournament,” he said.

Kenya will be fielding two sides in the tournament, Shujaa and The Chairman’s Select, which is coached by Impala tactician Innocent Simiyu.

World Cup bound Zimbabwe are the tournament’s top seeds and they get the day’s action underway with a Pool A clash against the Kenya Chairman’s Select. This will pave way for the tie between Ivory Coast and Morocco before Kenya Shujaa face off with Tunisia in the day’s third match.

The top eight teams, at the close of the day’s round robin group stages, will proceed to Sunday’s Main Cup quarterfinals with the bottom four playing a round robin event on Sunday to determine the Bowl winner.