Kenya Sevens players Sammy Oliech and Jeff Oluoch during the World Rugby Sevens Series. PHOTO/World Rugby
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 26 – Kenya has been seeded top and is placed in Pool A alongside Morocco and Botswana for this year’s Africa Sevens which will be held on October 13-14 in Tunisia.
Shujaa did not compete at the last year’s Championship won by hosts Uganda as it had doubled up as a World Cup qualification tourney and with their place in San Francisco already assured, the Kenya Rugby Union by-passed the opportunity to send a team.
The defending champions will be in Pool B alongside Senegal and Ghana while Zimbabwe, hosts Tunisia and Mauritius will compete in Pool C. Pool D has Madagascar, Zambia and Namibioa who will look to translate their 15s form to the shorter version of the game.
The Kenyan team has already began training under head coach Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu whose contract however ends on October 17 and a new man is set to be announced before then.
It is yet to be seen whether Simiyu who has been at the helm of the side will handle the team in Tunisia or the Union will have already named a new boss by then. Homeboyz RFC tactician and former assistant coach Paul Murunga is heavily tipped to take the job.
Simiyu and a panel of selectors had already selected a squad of 31 players to commence training and the same is expected to be whittled down with the Africa 7s and the annual Safari 7s beckoning.
The new World Series season starts on November 30 in Dubai.
Africa 7s Pools
Pool A: Kenya,Morocco, Botswana
Pool B: Uganda, Senegal, Ghana
Pool C: Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Mauritius
Pool D: Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia
