Kenya Rugby Sevens coach Kevin Wambua says the cancellation of the Rugby Africa season has come as a massive blow to his team.
Kenya are the defending Africa Men’s Sevens champions, but will not be able to defend their title due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Wambua told the-star.co.ke: “It’s a missed opportunity for us. We always use some of the events to give some of our young players a chance to test themselves against their peers on the continent.”
There is, however, still the chance that Kenya will be able to compete on the international stage this year. The World Sevens Series have tournaments in London and Paris still scheduled for September, and events in Singapore and Hong Kong slated for October.
Assuming there are no new event suspensions or cancellations, Wambua urged his troops to keep up their fitness levels.
“At the moment, we have to think outside the box for the benefit of our players. We need to have personalised training plans for the boys but the strength and conditioning coach should also be careful not to burn them out while ensuring they remain active.”
Kenya women’s team coach Felix Oloo was optimistic about how he will be able to use the time without competition.
“The cancellation means we go back to the drawing board on certain things that we had planned to work on this season,” said Oloo.
“We shall, however, retain the current players in both Sevens and 15’s because they’re already conversant with the way we plan on executing our plays.
“I have faith in the team we have and we will continue monitoring them until sporting activities resume. We also look at this from the positive angle, in that, the players who had picked up injuries early in the year have time to recover fully.”
In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo
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