The Kenya team to the Youth Commonwealth Games girls rugby has its work cut out as they face some of the best rugby nations in the round robin tournament in Trinidad and Tobago. The team reported to camp on Tuesday and were in training Wednesday morning. Coach Sarah Otieno who is also the rugby development officer at Kenya Rugby Union held a blow out and skills session to assess the 18 players in camp.
“When we broke camp in April, they (players) had a lesson plan that they needed to go work out on. So when they came in, my work is to make sure that whatever it is that they were given they were able to execute,” explained coach Sarah.
This was done in the morning session by looking at the checks and balances of the to do list from passing, ball reception and runs. The players are coming from various regions of the country and the coach is using a different approach in her drills. Five of the 18 players in camp will be dropped before the team departs for Trinidad and Tobago. Coach Sarah says her approach will be role play for the players to grasp and understand the drills.
“When I say role play, we will do the kick offs, the scrums, line outs, formations and patterns,” she elaborated.
Kenya will face the likes of Canada, Australia and Fiji, teams that play a very fast game. Coach Sarah’s sessions will be short, sharp and sweet to cope with these teams. Defence will be key.
“As time goes by we will work on defence patterns for players to understand what they need to do. If you are at the five meters line, how are you defending this ball? If you are counter attacking, then how do you counter attack? It is a lot of learning towards the end.”
The coach believes that 10 days is a short time for preparation, so she plans to stick to the plan that was sent to teachers to work with while the girls were in school.
