Lionesses happy to have finally played despite two losses

Kenya Lionesses in action against New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympics on July 29, 2021. [Agencies]

After facing a number of problems on arrival in Tokyo, the Kenya Lionesses finally took to the pitch on Thursday against New Zealand and Russia Olympic Committee (ROC).

It was not the results that the national women rugby team were hoping to get, but the fact that they finally played was good news to the players and coaching staff.

On arrival in Tokyo more than two weeks ago the Kenyan girl were forced to quarantine for 14 days after coming in contact with a positive Covid case on their flight from Nairobi.

“We have lost two matches, but I am happy that we have finally had a chance to do what we came here for after problems that we faced on been asked to quarantine and could not train until Wednesday, just a day to the opening match,” team captain Philadelphia Olando said after the 29-7 loss to New Zealand and 35-12 loss to ROC.

The show by the Kenyans against the Olympic gold medallists New Zealand though was not one of a team that has not trained as they were able to put up a resilient fight against the New Zealanders.

They were even able to breakdown the solid champions defence with Christabel Lindo scoring the opening try at the Olympics for the Lionesses.

The two tries against ROC also encouraged coach Felix Oloo, who said there is still room for improvement which he expects to come against Great Britain in the last group match.

The Lionesses were expected to tackle the Britons at 11am local time on Friday which is 5am in Kenya.

“Considering what we went through on arrival here and lack of training, I think the girls have done well even though there is a lot that we can do to improve our game.

“We had a few errors which is expected if you have not trained together for long, but we will surely get them,” Oloo said.

"You can’t fall if you don’t climb.  But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground."

 

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