Kenya Under-15 rugby side have confirmed participation in the Turi International Sevens tournament slated for next month in Nakuru County.
Coach Biko Adema said they had assembled 18 players from Nairobi, Nakuru, Kajiado, Kakamega, and Kisumu counties through various tournaments.
"In the last month, we have selected the players from various tournaments like the Easter Blackrock event held at the RFUEA ground as well as the Hillcrest tournament early this month," said Adema.
The young Kenya side will be up against teams from Japan, Qatar, Uganda and the United Kingdom.
Adema said with a month to the event, he will be looking to assemble the team by the end of the month to start training.
“We are looking at training camps before starting preparations at the end of this month to enable our players to be in good shape," added Adema.
The selection process has run into headwinds, especially with the school opening dates being postponed.
“As you are aware, schools should have opened in late April but were just opened last week and this is a setback to our preps but we will soldier on."
The former Kenya Sevens playmaker said they have opted to start with the Sevens programme first before moving to the 15's later in the year.
“ A good number of the boys are playing Sevens tournaments and this being Sevens rugby term in the schools' programme, it was the ideal start for us, " noted Adema.
The former Nondies flyhalf said with a month to go to the tournament, the technical bench will come up with a formidable squad for the two-day championship.
"The players are highly skilled and looking forward to the event. They are putting in the hard yards and we are confident that come the tournament, we will be in a good position."
Adema said the long-term goal of the programme is to provide players from the Kenya Under 18 team and under-20 teams.
“ As part of the new structure of the national team, we want to identify and tap talents from a young and mould them to be the big stars of Kenya rugby for the future.
