Kenya rugby sevens second-string side, Kenya Morans, are hard at training as they prepare for the upcoming Africa 7s Championships in Mauritius this weekend.
Morans have been in joint training with the senior team, Shujaa, who are heading to the Paris Olympic Games, and Shujaa’s assistant coach Louis Kisia who will take charge of the Morans in Mauritius, says this has hugely benefited the team.
“We’ve done our phases and I think if you try and relate these sessions that we’ve had now compared to what we were doing before we went to the other African games, there is a very big difference. For starters, at the All-African Games we only had eight players in camp because half of the contingent was with Shujaa in Montevideo, Uruguay for the second challenger series. But this time we have been in camp for the last three weeks thanks to NOCK and the Kenya Rugby Union who have facilitated that,” opined Kisia.
“I think we have done very good phases as I said because we had good numbers; we had around 24 boys in camp including Shujaa, then we had all the technical members including the head coach (Kevin Wambua), so it’s a collective effort from all fronts to ensure Morans are well prepared for the task ahead,” he added.
Kisia shed more light on the new format set to be debuted in the tournament, with teams competing between June 29-30, and July 6-7, 2024.
“We will be holed up in Mauritius for the next two weeks; it’s a format that only Rugby Africa knows why they did that. So, first we play this weekend then we take a break during the week and do our sessions, then do the second challenge on the first weekend of July. From the information that I’ve gotten so far, the second tournament will be totally different from the first one, so if you’re crowned champion in the first one, they will do new pools and then we start all over again in the second tournament,” he noted.
Kisia will lead the Morans in Mauritius as the head coach, with Morgan Ngumbi as the team manager and John Eli as the physiotherapist.
Shujaa and the rest of the technical bench will remain in Nairobi for further training, before heading out to Miramas, France, next month for final touches before the Olympic Games kick off.
Kenya are in Pool A alongside hosts Mauritius, Nigeria and Madagascar.
