Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya Lionesses head coach Dennis Mwanja has vowed to adopt a territorial-based system for the Challenger Sevens Series next month in Dubai.
The tactician said one of the lessons learned from the Africa Cup Sevens tourney in Tunisia in October, where they lost in the final to South Africa, was to play in the right areas of the field and avoid giving away penalties to the opposition.
“Going to the first Challenger Series, our game plan will be to play territory-based game plan, where we maximise our opportunities by playing in the right areas of the field and be sharp in attack to ensure we win matches,” added Mwanja.
The Lionesses have been pitted against China, Czech Republic and Mexico in Dubai and the KCB assistant head coach feels the pool is fair.
“We played China in the Challenger Series pool stage last year in Chile, beating them before losing in the bronze medal match.
“We have also done a video analysis of Mexico and we know their strengths and weaknesses and know we can hurt them in some facets of play. The Czech Republic is an unknown quantity,” said Mwanja.
He said he would bolster the squad by adding six players to the training squad from their current number of 18 players.
“We are looking at increasing the numbers due to the fact we also have the Olympic repechage in Monaco in June next year.
“With Other Challenger Series tournaments in March and in May, we need a large squad and have depth in all the positions in the team,” observed Mwanja.
Mwanja breathed a huge sigh of relief when the Lionesses failed to grace the Dubai Invitational earlier in the month due to the financial constraints of the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU).
“The girls told me they had knocks and some light injuries. Playing in Dubai would have exposed them to more injuries.
“Remember the girls this year played in the Africa Cup in Madagascar in May, the WXV 3 tournament in Dubai, and the Olympic qualifier in October.
“When you factor in all those tournaments, skipping the Dubai Invitational is a blessing in disguise for the team as they are now fresher in terms of fitness for the Challenger Series,” added Mwanja.
Mwanja expressed confidence that his charges can win the Challenger Series and qualify for the Olympics in Paris next year.
“From the various tournaments we have played in the last couple of years, we stand a good chance of winning both tournaments and doing the country proud,” he added.
The team will have their final training session today before breaking for Christmas and resuming on December 28 with Mwanja expected to name his 13-man traveling squad on the first week of January. The team is expected to travel on January 8.
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