NAIROBI, Kenya, August 15, 2025 – Kenya Harlequin rugby 7s head coach Simon Odongo has warned rivals that the team will be a force to reckon with at this weekend’s Christie 7s.
Odongo says the team have worked on the mistakes that have cost them in the first two legs of the National Sevens Circuit (NSC) and as such, will stop at nothing to lift the trophy at their home ground.
“We know we let ourselves down in the last two legs…we know the areas in which we fell short. We have addressed those areas and we have a training game against Homeboyz to try and shore up those areas as well. Come this weekend, we have a lot of fireworks in store for the teams that will be competing with us,” the gaffer said.
The NSC defending champions presently lie seventh on the log with 24 points, 17 less than joint leaders KCB Rugby and Strathmore Leos.
At the first leg of the circuit, Odongo’s charges finished sixth at the Driftwood 7s after losing 14-7 to Menengai Oilers in the fifth-place playoff final.
They also claimed sixth place at the second leg in Nakuru (Prinsloo 7s) after losing 24-19 to the hosts at the Nakuru Athletic Club.
The 10-time Christie 7s champions have been pooled in an intriguing Pool A alongside early pacesetters Leos, Zetech University Oaks and Mombasa Sports Club (MSC).
Odongo admits it is a tricky pool but is nonetheless thankful for the opportunity to showcase their championship mentality.
“It’s an interesting pool because we have Mombasa who we met in Prinsloo and are very good opponents. We have Leos who won the title in Nakuru and Zetech who won the Division II title. It’s quite an interesting pool with teams that have young but energetic players. For us, these are tricky fixtures but we are going to give it our best. So far, we haven’t lost any of our Day One competitions so we only need to improve on our Day Two,” he said.
At this stage of last year’s series, Quins were perched on top of the standings with 41 points, two ahead of Kabras Sugar and KCB, who had 39 and 32 points respectively.
Despite the 180 degrees turn in fortunes, Odongo is unfazed about the team’s struggles, confident they can make up the deficit and catch up to the leading teams in the circuit.
“I think the competition is fantastic…it gives us sleepless nights as coaches. It’s good for rugby that every leg has had a different winner…it shows the level of talent in the country and going forward it will help us improve,” he said.
Odongo added: “It is going to be very crucial for us to win Christie because we are at the halfway mark already. We have to score big on this one and take a big result on the Christie 7s. The series is a marathon and not a sprint and for us, hopefully, we are going to meet our targets and scale up the wall by the end of the sixth leg.”
