Rugby: Lionesses drawn in tricky pool in Dubai Sevens

National Women’s sevens team, Lionesses, have been drawn in a tricky Pool A ahead of this year’s Dubai Sevens tournament set for November 29 and 30.

In pool, the reigning African champions, who are coached by Kevin Wambua will be up against New Zealand’s Black Ferns, Russia and Ireland.

Speaking to the Kenya Rugby Union website, Wambua said he will use the Dubai Sevens to gauge some of the new players who have been drafted to the squad.

“Our main goal is to be ready for next year. It’s big for us as we have qualifiers for the HSBC Series as well as the Olympics in Tokyo. We want to use this tournament to test some of the new players in our system,” Wambua said.

“Training so far has been positive, we have brought in some new players who have a lot of potential in them. Our main focus especially with them is the need to fine tune their skill set in preparation for the coming year,” Wambua added.

Australia, the 2017 Dubai Sevens champions, headline Pool B in which they are pitted against the USA, England and China. Pool C is made up of Fiji, Canada, France and Spain.

Lionesses, who are not a core team in the HSBC Sevens Series received an invite to grace the two-day tournament following their exploits at this year’s Africa Sevens championships held in Botswana.

It will be the sides’ second appearance in the HSBC Sevens Series. [Clement Wekulo]