With all eyes about to turn to the IRB Rugby Sevens circuit, Kenya Sevens team were drawn against France, Australia, and Japan, as they seek to overcome the grim showing in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Their African counterparts South Africa were drawn against USA, Scotland, and Uganda.
The IRB Circuit has a large following in Kenya, given the fact that Kenya always participates. The sevens team finished seventh last season. The influence heightened after Kenya won the Singapore Sevens tournament, after defeating rugby sevens powerhouse Fiji. Fiji will face Argentina, Wales, and Canada in Pool ‘A’. On the other hand, rivals New Zealand in pool C will come up against Olympic silver medallist England, along with Samoa, and Russia.
Even though the situation involving the team’s technical bench still isn’t clear, KRU Chairman Richard Omwela insists there is still sufficient time to solve the team’s issues and sort out the Kenya Sevens team’s preparation, “I believe we have adequate time for the team to start training for the world series and also get their strength, conditioning, and preparation for the series,” he said. Reports indicated that former KRU were after iconic former New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens to take charge of the Kenya Sevens team, and he has undoubtedly commanded the attention of other nations after he left his post as the All Blacks coach after the Rio Olympics. According to mercurial Sevens player Collins Injera, the situation needs to be sorted out quickly to avoid any inconveniences, “We do have our challenges and I think we need to solve them out before it’s too late,” he said, “We hope it will be sorted out before we start our preparations because it will be useless to start preparations yet we haven’t sorted out the issues we are facing. We usually carry issues from the previous season to the new one, we might start well but in the middle of the season these issues appear again.”
According to mercurial Sevens player Collins Injera, the situation needs to be sorted out quickly to avoid any inconveniences, “We do have our challenges and I think we need to solve them out before it’s too late,” he said, “We hope it will be sorted out before we start our preparations because it will be useless to start preparations yet we haven’t sorted out the issues we are facing. We usually carry issues from the previous season to the new one, we might start well but in the middle of the season these issues appear again.”
