The Shujaa squad to represent Kenya at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, USA, has been named.
The team is made up of the following: Oscar Ayodi (Captain, Menengai Cream Homeboyz), Collins Injera (Stanbic Mwamba), Andrew Amonde (KCB), William Ambaka (Kenya Harlequin), Samuel Oliech (Resolution Impala Saracens), Nelson Oyoo (Top Fry Nakuru), Dennis Ombachi (Nondescripts), Jeff Oluoch (Menengai Cream Homeboyz), Brian Tanga (Kabras Sugar), Eden Agero (Kenya Harlequin), Herman Humwa (Kenya Harlequin) and Samuel Ng’ethe (Menengai Oilers).
The coaching crew is made up of Innocent Simiyu (Head Coach), Geoffrey Kimani (Conditioning Coach), Lamech Bogonko (Physio) and Erick Ogweno (Team Manager).
The team which reached the semifinals of the previous two editions in 2009 (Dubai) and 2013 (Russia) departed for the USA on Sunday, July 15, where they will compete alongside 23 other men’s teams in a new look, high-stakes knock-out format that is bound to leave fans glued to their seats for the entire duration of the tournament which will be played from July 20th to 22nd at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Speaking after naming the squad, Head Coach Innocent Simiyu said, “We have a very strong squad based on training. The guys have really trained hard and we believe we have selected the best team that can represent the country. We’re looking for good performances from the players and hopefully we can get some good
results.”
Commenting on the tournament format, Simiyu, a former Kenya captain said, “It is an interesting format. This being a knockout it means that you have to adapt very first to the chaos in the game because if the game goes it goes and you have to keep winning to stay in it. The first game against Tonga will be very critical. We have to start very well…get our game going…hit our performance standards very early….get the results that we want and proceed from there.”
Kenya will play their first game against Tonga on Friday, July 20.
