BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
The Kenya Sevens Morans coach Louis Kisia has announced the squad for the 2024 Rugby Africa 7s to be held in Mauritius.
The tournament will be held over two weekends, 29th/30th June and 6th/7th July 2024.
The team sees the return of Denis Abukuse, William Mwanji and Festus Shiasi all who last featured for the national team in the first leg of the Challenger Series in Dubai.
They headline Pool A where they’ll meet Madagascar, Nigeria and Mauritius.
Coach Kisia said the team is ready for the African showpiece. “We have had sufficient preparations at Kasarani ahead of the Africa 7s this weekend thanks to KRU and NOCK for ensuring the Morans side trains with the Shujaa squad,” he said.
He added: We have had high performance sessions led by the Kenya Sevens Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrew Amonde which have contributed heavily to our preparations for this tournament. We have received input from the Head Coach on our preparations and I believe the team is ready to roar in Mauritius.”
Further, Kisia added that they are targeting to retain gold at annual event. “Our target in Mauritius is the gold medal. We want to replicate our performance during the 2023 Rugby Africa 7s tournament. The team knows our objective and they’re ready to conquer Africa for the second year running,” he revealed.
On the traveling squad, Kisia stated that most of the members are returning players from previous tournaments, Joel Inzuga has represented Morans before, Harmony Wamalwa has been part of the larger squad set up, Brian Mutua, Ben Salem, Denis Abukuse, Elvis Olukusi, Festus Shiasi, William Mwanji, Richard Liva and Gabriel Ayimba have all been training with the Shujaa during the HSBC Challenger Series period.
Edmund Anya makes a return since last season and his experience will be key in our set up,” added Louis.
The only new inclusion in the sevens set up is Victor “Mola” Odhiambo who has been in the Kenya 7s management radar.
He had been called up to the team but an injury saw him miss out on the opportunity to play for Kenya 7s, however, Mola is now back in the team and the team cannot wait to see him wear the Kenyan colours proudly for Morans.
The fixtures will follow in subsequent communication.
Morans squad to Mauritius:
1. Brian Mutua (CC). 2. Ben Salem (CC). 3. William Mwanji. 4. Dennis Abukuse. 5. Elvis Olukusi. 6. Richard Liva. 7. Gabriel Ayimba. 8. Harmony Wamalwa. 9. Festus Shiasi. 10. Joel Inzuga. 11. Victor Odhiambo.* 12. Edmund Anya.
Head Coach: Louis Kisia Team Manager: Morgan Ngumbi Physio: John Elly
