Oduk delighted with women’s rugby growth in Kenya, calls for more investment

Mwamba RFC ladies' team coach John Oduk has expressed pleasure with the growth of women’s rugby in the country in recent years.

These recent years have seen girl’s rugby introduced in the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) games, and an increased number of tournaments for the Kenya Lionesses; both 7s and 15s.

This year for instance, Lionesses competed in the HSBC World Rugby 7s Challenger Series and the Olympic Repechage, where they missed out on a chance to qualify for the Olympics after going down 24-7 to China in the grueling final.

The 15s team also competed in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Madagascar in May.

They were also set to compete in the Rugby Super Series but Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) canceled the match owing to World Rugby regulations.

The recent tournaments, while perhaps not sufficient in themselves, highlight the promising growth of women's sports in the country. If the trajectory remains consistent, the growth of women's sports is poised to surpass expectations.

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Oduk, in an exclusive with Mozzart Sport, noted that the inclusion of women’s category was a testament to the strides made to the development of the same.

“These ladies are trailblazers and role models to many upcoming players. The most important thing is to invest in women’s rugby. We are calling on investors to take on ladies’ rugby. Ladies are quite skillful and all the need is the financial support to take them to the next level,” he offered.

His team came in second in the Ingo 7s tournament after a 22-10 loss at the hands of Impala RFC in the final.

Despite that, he was proud of their performance, noting that they were looking to build on that in the upcoming legs.

“Being the first tournament and the runners-up, I am proud of the ladies for the effort they have put in and we want to build up from here going into the next tournament in three weeks’ time. We need to improve a bit more on our defense, and fitness and we will be good to go,” he averred.

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The tactician further called for more tournaments for the ladies, noting that practice would make them perfect. He was confident that if exposed to high intensity matches, they would perform well.

“Rugby is a matter of repetition. The more reps we get, the more we implement our systems and structures. If we get more ladies’ legs from next year, it will be good for the growth of the women's game,” he concluded.

The ladies are likely to be back in action for the Kabeberi 7s slated for August 24 to 25.