Kenya 7s skipper Amonde ruled out of Dubai, Cape Town Series openers
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E-mail Xinhua, October 19, 2017
Kenya will tackle the opening two legs of the 2017-18 World Sevens Series in Dubai and Cape Town, South Africa without their skipper, Andrew Amonde, who has been ruled out with injury.
Amonde confirmed on Wednesday he has undergone successful surgery to repair the hernia injury he sustained while playing for his domestic side, KCB RFC at last weekend's Christie 7s ruling him out of the series openers in Dec.
"I will not recover in time for Dubai and Cape Town and I feel terrible about it but there is nothing that can be done," the mainstay of the side who is expected to be out for at least two months, rued.
Amonde, who is eying a return during the third and fourth legs in Sydney, Australia and Hamilton, Canada in January next year, backed his side to make an impressive start in his absence.
"Our target is to have a great run this season compared to the last where we struggled on many fronts. We have a formidable team that has been training together for a while," the forward added.
Oscar Ouma, Dennis Ombachi and Dan Sikuta are in the frame to take the armband in coach Innocent Simiyu's side for Dubai and Cape Town as the tactician embarks on his second season at the helm.
With the Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco, United States and Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia part of the campaign, Kenya will be hoping to make an impact after an underwhelming 2016-17 season where they finished 12th overall with a paltry 63 points in the World Series.
Simiyu's charges were drawn in Pool A against series champions South Africa, Singapore 7s winners; Canada and Africa titleholders Uganda who have joined the elite circuit party.
Former skipper, Humphrey Kayange, also tipped the team to make a strong start to the season as he battles to regain fitness after a lengthy injury lay off that has seen him side-lined from the national squad.
"We have played South Africa before, so these are sides that know each other well. It's no secret we never reached our expected heights last season and I know it is one thing on the minds of the players and the technical bench. We have to improve," Kayange added.
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