Go back to the drawing board to revive rugby

Kenya U20’s Felix Chacha and Raphael Wanga (center) try stopping Afa Moleli (left) of Junior Manu Samoa during World Rugby U20 Trophy 2023 at The Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday, July 15, 2023. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Our national 15’s Under 20 rugby team ‘Chipu’ lost their second consecutive match at the ongoing World Rugby Under 20 trophy falling 18-48 to Spain.

The tournament is being played at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi. The poor showing calls for a new strategy in rugby. This comes hot on the heels of the men’s national senior team, Shujaa, getting relegated from the World Rugby Series.

We need to re-look our rugby programmes from the grassroots level, especially school games. We are experiencing disastrous performances just few years after Shujaa made history by beating Fiji to win the 2016 Singapore leg of the International Rugby Series.

It is time to emerge out of the woods and resuscitate talents in our schools. And there is no better way to stir up the talents of our children than through school games – it clearly sets the pace to be a successful sporting nation.

The dismal performances in key tournaments recently, demand a rallying call to all stakeholders to put our rugby prowess on the track. And it was a sigh of relief when National Under 20 rugby head coach Curtis Olago urged Kenyan rugby fans to continue supporting the team despite their 48-18 loss to Spain on Thursday.

He expressed hope in his charges, describing them as talented lads capable of taking Kenyan rugby to the highest level in coming years.

Olago said he believes this team as the future of Kenyan rugby, admitting that it would take some time before the fruits are seen. It’s no secret that our dominance in the sport at the global stage has been on a downhill path partly because school games, which stand out as the goose that lays the golden egg, have not been taken seriously.

It is high time the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) work closely with Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association and our universities in identifying and nurturing rugby talents.

We have a glut in raw talent in rugby. Schools such as Kakamega School have over the years served as feeders to our national teams. Former Kenya Sevens captain Humprey Kayange stirred his rugby skills at Kakamega School.

We should take the cue from these stars and build a strong sporting empire from our schools. Unfortunately, the performances of these schools have dropped drastically. And nowadays, they feature nowhere.

The change of the school calendar is partly to blame. Unlike in the past when school sports programmes were aligned with the international schedule, the trend is now different.

We hope the government will streamline schools’ co-curricular calendar. We should inspire our young talents through the once popular school games and in the process discover the hidden talent that go on and conquer the globe again.