Africa-Press – Kenya. The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) western region development officer Matayo Mwenesi has expressed optimism that women’s rugby will soon compete at the same level as their male counterparts.
He said women’s rugby has the capacity to reach the men’s rugby levels if better plans are put in place. Mwenesi reiterated that the women’s game will only grow if the nurturing and development of players can start at the school level.
“We feel there are many opportunities for women’s rugby to grow in the country. We have a very successful national rugby team, the Lionesses, who are ranked second in Africa and 23rd worldwide. We want more girls to be involved in the game,” said Mwenesi.
He was speaking at the Bullring in Kakamega, where he witnessed the western region secondary school girls’ rugby games over the weekend. Mwira Girls’ emerged winners of the two-day event followed by Madira and Bishop Sulumeti by virtue of collecting majority points.
Mwenesi said plans are afoot to have the regional girls’ 7s competitions run concurrently with schools games. This move, he said was aimed at promoting the growth of the game and urged schools to help in talent spotting.
“We are holding the regional girls’ 7s competitions to run concurrently with school games. This is a national program run by the union. We are following the same format being used by school games where the top two schools per region will qualify for national 7s with the winners proceeding to the East African regional games,” he said.
“We are making good progress in girls’ rugby. Some schools like Eregi have had girls rugby for a longer time and we hope more will adopt the game. We are headed in the right direction as far as women’s rugby development is concerned.”
Mwenesi confirmed the union’s determination to promote the growth of the sport in the western region which is a powerhouse for contact athletes. He also pointed out that they hope to get the best four teams that will represent the western region at the national 7s championships in Kakamega next month.
“We are hoping to get the best four teams to represent the region at the nationals. We had our nationals last year where Eregi Girls finished second and we are hoping to go further this time,” he said.
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