NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 2- The national women’s rugby sevens team target to attain World Rugby Sevens Series core status when they line up at the qualifiers in Hong Kong April next year and head coach Kevin Wambua is confident they can achieve the target.
Lionesses, who finished second in Africa after losing in the African Cup finals to South Africa in September, are yet to attain core status, but with the growth they have had over the past few years, the players and the technical bench believe it is a possibility.
“Our long term goal is of course to get into the World Series as a core team and looking at the growth we have had over the past years, it is not something impossible. We have a very rich squad with a good balance of youth and experience which I believe is important for our targets,” Wambua said.
Captain Philadelphia Olando has told Capital Sport the team is determined to get themselves into the world map as much as their male counterparts have and will do their best in Hong Kong.
“As a team we would want to be recognized in the world just like Shujaa and the best way to do that is to get to be a core team in the World Sevens Series. We have come from far as a team and I believe we can,” an upbeat Olando said.
Her sentiments were echoed by team-mate Janet ‘Shebesh’ Okello who said the team needs better support in order to accomplish their mission.
“We are better off compared to yester years but if the support became better, I believe we can do more. The biggest problem has been allowances. A player might go to the pitch but her mind and focus is not there because they are thinking of how to pay their bills,” Okello explained.
Lionesses missed out on a chance to play in next year’s World Cup after losing 19-12 to perennial rivals South Africa in Tunisia in September, but despite the loss they booked a slot to play in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia.
“Our target going to Australia is to finish at least in the top five. We learnt a lot from the Rio Olympics last year where we went in with an inferiority complex but this time, we will not fear anybody,” speed-star Okello said.
The team will kick off its season next month at the Dubai invitational tournament where they have set up a target of getting to the final to inject some level of confidence.
“Last year we reached semis and this time we want to go a step further. We want to be in the final and win it and we have talked as a team and know what our targets are. The improvement has been great and we are ever inching so close to competing with South Africa,” Wambua disclosed.
“Now it’s more mental than anything else. In terms of skill and firepower, we match them in all departments and I believe the next time we play them, we will beat them,” he added.
The team believes Dubai will leave a marker for them in terms of getting into the season positively and they are currently in camp building up for the season.
