Coach McGrath optimistic of a better future

Kenya rugby Sevens team head coach Damian McGrath says he is under pressure to name squad to the Commonwealth Games slated for Birmingham in the United Kingdom later this month.

But the English coach has insisted that no one is guaranteed a place in the squad.

This comes as Shujaa intensify training at Kasarani bubble camp and McGrath says he wants to give every player a chance to prove themselves together with new players that he picked from the National Sevens Circuit.

 “It’s always easy to pick twenty plus players who everybody favour but then you come across these young diamonds who have that magic you think you can polish. The great thing is that we think we have found four or five players who may be not for now but in the very near future will be pushing to play for the Shujaa,” noted McGrath.

This is laying a foundation, not only for the Commonwealth and Rugby World Cup but also for the 2022-2023 World Sevens Series and team captain Nelson Oyoo added that they are putting a lot of effort to make sure they go back to their glory days.

“The coach has brought a game plan that favors our strength in terms of speed and power and he is trying to improve our soft and hard skills together with the general environment in the team. Currently everything is good and the mood in the camp is very positive,” said Oyoo.

Shujaa reached the semi-final in Gold Coast, Australia in 2018 where they finished eighth after losing to Wales in seventh place match.

The coach is optimistic of taking Kenyan rugby back to its glorious days starting with the Commonwealth games where they target to go past the group and knockout stages into the medal bracket.

“Rome was not built in a day and I would like to say that I don’t have a magic dossier that you can just sprinkle on and get back to those glory days of maybe two or three years ago. We are building slowly and the only thing is that I think we look to be better in each tournament unlike the last two legs where we finished rock bottom, so we are aiming to always go one step at a time. If the players play to their potential then we can get into the knockout phase and beyond that we will be a dangerous team to meet,” concluded McGrath.

The Commonwealth Games rugby Sevens competition is set to begin on 29–31 July 2022 at Coventry Stadium, with the edition set to tentatively start on 28 July – 8 August 2022.