KRU names Shujaa squad for Olympic qualifiers

By Peter Ochieng

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) on Tuesday named the national sevens team that will feature at this weekend's Rugby Africa 7s in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The tournament will serve as Africa's qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

The 12-man Shujaa squad is highlighted by Vincent Onyala who sat out of games for the better part of the 2022/23 World Rugby Sevens Series through injury.

He returns to co-captain the side alongside another experienced campaigner, in the frame of Tony Omondi.

Six players have been handed maiden call-ups by Head Coach Kevin Wambua, among them Festus Shiasi.

Shujaa Squad: Vincent Onyala (KCB, co-captain), Tony Omondi (Mwamba, co-captain), Brian Tanga (Kabras Sugar), Kevin Wekesa (Kabras Sugar), John Okoth (Menengai Oilers), George Ooro (Strathmore Leos), Samuel Asati (KCB), Nygel Amaitsa (Strathmore Leos),William Mwanji (Kabras Sugar), Beldad Ogeta (Menengai Oilers), Patrick Odongo (Daystar Falcons) and Festus Shiasi (KCB).

Speaking at the squad announcement on Tuesday in Nairobi, Coach Wambua said they have had good preparations, and they know exactly how the want to play.

“We’ve had good preparations. We’ve had two back to back camps where we’ve taken the time to set our foundation on how we want to play. There are a few things we really wanted to improve and the camps were quite helpful," he said as quoted by KRU website.

“The boys have responded well to our training sessions and I believe we are in a very good place for the qualifiers. We want to take a game at a time and play every game like a final. We have to get out of the pool stage first. We want to be in a position that sees us top the pool at the close of day one and embark on the quarters. The boys believe they can go all the way."

He added, "It is perfectly balanced, we have six players who have been in the set up and six new boys coming in. Three of the new call ups were in the setup before and the other three are first timers and it is very important that we give the boys confidence because we know they have the ability to take on the rest of Africa.”

Shujaa will face Nigeria at 1106, Namibia 1350 and Zambia 1634 respectively on Saturday.

The management consists of Coach Wambua. Louis Kisia (Assistant Coach), Andrew Amonde (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Lamech Bogonko (Physio) and Steven Sewe (Team Manager).