Kenya Under-20 rugby team have enlisted the services of South African coaches Hans Joubert and Neil De Kock in readiness for the Barthes Cup in April.
The South African duo will arrive next month from their base in South Africa and will, especially help with kicking and line-out as part of their preparation.
Kenya Under-20 coach Paul Odera said the two facets of play were poor last season and the team can't risk it again this time around especially with Namibia keen to exact revenge after losing the title last year in Nairobi.
"Our kicking for territory and exit plays were poor and our line-out, which is fundamental part of the game must improve. We are happy the coaches will be coming to sort out these two key areas,” added Odera.
The team has been training every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and Odera said they will focus on conditioning and improving players skill set for the next one month. "We have a new crop of players after selecting from the regions and we hope they will learn from the players who played last year,” he added.
He said build up matches against Kenya Cup teams will be difficult because league is entering critical stage of playoffs.
"Kenya Cup is at a critical stage and getting teams to play with is not easy. However, we will try our best to get teams that are knocked out early of the competition,” he added.
The former international said the proposed training camps in South Africa or elsewhere will depend on funding. "We know the state of finance at the union is not good but we will wait and see what happens in the next one and half months,” he added. He said they intend to cut down the squad to 35 players at the end of the month before dropping seven more at the end of March in preparation for the Barthes Cup.
Kenya will be seeking to qualify for the Junior World rugby tournament (JWRT) in Spain and Odera termed it as a pathway to qualification for the Rugby World Cup in France in 2023.
“I hope we can qualify like we did last year as it builds confidence for the team going forward,” he noted. Chipu who are the defending champions will open their campaign against Zambia.
