Sleepless nights for Kenya XV's coach as World qualifiers beckon

The national rugby 15's team, Kenya Simbas, completed their second weekend training camp on Sunday, May 30, from where the final list of players expected to represent the country at the Rugby Africa Championship that doubles as a World Cup qualifier is set to be named. 

From a provisional squad of 102 players, coach Paul Odera reduced the number to 69, with 59 local based, hitting camp for the second weekend. 

"There is visible progress both tactically and in conditioning, compared to the first camp, but there is still work to be done. Having the players out of action for so long has taken its toll on their form and the regression is almost going back two years. Some players are better than others as they were able to remain in good shape but others, for circumstances beyond them, are not. As we select the team, we are in a tough position. We have to balance between current form and the potential we know some of these players have with a bit of training. While I acknowledge there is progress, the big question is whether it will be quick and good enough for the competition that is four weeks away," coach Odera offered. 

The technical bench is set to name a final list of 35 players scheduled for a ten-day residential training in South Africa, at the same facility that the national Sevens team held their Solidarity camp, from June 11 to 21. The players are set to go into another local camp on June 5 ahead of their travel to South Africa.

"We are still awaiting confirmation on the South Africa trip. By now we should have named the final list so that the process of acquiring Visas and booking flights can begin but we have to await confirmation from the federation and the Ministry of Sports. We are also waiting for clarity on the availability of the foreign-based players. We risk not having all of them in camp as they are covering the expenses of getting to camp personally," Odera explained adding that without proper preparation for the team it will not be surprising to lose the matches that look easy on paper. 

The tactician, alongside a team of selectors, will rely on videos from training and matches played while in camp to come up with the final team that will face Zambia on July 3 and Senegal on July 11. 

"For the second camp we focused on our patterns. Our line out and scrum are much better and there's improvement in tackling. We still have to find a balance between structured and non-structured play as our players tend to focus on the latter so much so that we forget the order and pressure for the opposition that comes with structured play. We have shelved kick off for the next camp," said the tactician.