Quins players during a past tournament/HANDOUTNational Seven Series champions Quins will bank on home advantage in their quest to land the Christie Sevens title this weekend.
The Ngong Road giants fell short in the opening two legs in Mombasa (Driftwood) and Nakuru (Prinsloo). They lost to Nakuru and Strathmore in the quarterfinals, respectively.
However, head coach Patrice Agunda said playing on familiar grounds and tactical tweaks could spur the side in the two-day fiesta.
“Playing at home gives us an advantage. We will have the support of the fans in addition to playing on a ground we are familiar with. We train there almost every other day and I believe it will work in our favour,” observed Agunda.
The tactician observed that they always have good starts on the opening day but struggle on the second, something he believes they have worked on in the past week in training.
“If you look at our performances on day one, we top the pool or finish second. Our biggest challenge comes on day two. We struggle to replicate our form. We have done some tweaks to our training and we hope to fire on all cylinders,” noted Agunda.
The former Kenya Sevens and Simbas international believes his charges can defend the series despite a slow start to the campaign.
They are seventh on the log with 24 points, 17 behind joint leaders Strathmore Leos and KCB.
“This leg will determine if we’ll retain the national title. The best case scenario would be for us to go on a deep run, get to the semifinals or final to reduce the gap between us and the top two teams,” added Agunda.
Quins are in Pool ‘A’ alongside Leos, Zetech Oaks and Mombasa Sports Club.
“It’s a tricky pool. The key for us will be to get two wins on day one,” he said.
Ugandan outfit Ruga Ruga Select will be the guest team and face Kabras, Menengai Oilers and Daystar Falcons in Pool ‘C’.
KCB headline Pool ‘D’ where they will battle it out against Mwamba, Nondies and Blak Blad. Catholic Monks have a date with Impala, Nakuru and MMUST in Pool ‘B’.
