Kisumu RFC raring to go in Kenya Cup, says Okwemba

Kisumu RFC Head Coach Howard Okwemba is upbeat his team will be ready for any challenge in the Kenya Cup, with the season set to commence on November 23.

Okwemba who took charge of the lakeside team weeks after the end of the National Sevens Circuit has been hard in training with the team with their opening match in the league being away against Menengai Oilers.

“Preparations are actually on course; the boys are upbeat. We lost a few players during the transfer period but Kisumu RFC are very resilient and we managed to recruit new players; very raw talent and they are very much capable of handling the Kenya cup level in terms of skill level and understanding of the game.

“We are focusing on the first three games of the season, we are playing Oilers (Menengai) away, the first weekend, the second weekend we play KCB and the third weekend we play Kabras Sugar to cut off the Kenya cup for this year,” averred the coach.

Kisumu will have a tough start to their Kenya Cup season as they face Oilers in the opening weekend and then battle heavyweights KCB RFC and defending Champions Kabras Sugar.

Okwemba however says they will take it a game at a time.

“We want to get one game at a time, so for now we are focusing on the Oilers and we know from how they played last season that the Oilers are a good side. The first three games are very tough; we know they are very good sides and what we want to do as a team is to tick the small boxes in how we approach each and every game.

“Physically we tried our level best to get ourselves to a place where we can match if not one hundred percent but we can match these other teams physically. It's both a learning process for the young team and we are hoping for the best,” observed Okwemba.

Kisumu lost a couple of their key players to rival teams, but Okwemba is banking on the available players before the next transfer window.

“By the time I was getting the call up to do the coaching for the team, the transfer window was already closed. For now we have not recruited from any other team; what we have done is we have gone to Mashinani (local leagues) and we have looked for raw talent; guys who are not associated with any other club and those are the guys we want to start using.

“If by the time the transfer window opens and we will have gotten an opportunity to check on where our weaknesses are as a team, then we can beef it up if and when the need arises before the next window closes,” explained the coach.