The London 7s and Paris 7s legs of the HSBC World Sevens Series, previously scheduled to be held on 23rd/24th and 30th/31st May respectively have been postponed provisionally to September 2020 as a covid-19 response measure by World Rugby.
“We have to rethink our plans going forward and as a group, we will need to have more game situation training sessions within this time. We’re looking at dividing the whole squad into different teams where they’ll play against each other and then we will have video analysis sessions to see how to improve ourselves,” said Shujaa Technical Director Paul Feeney.
From the government’s directive, the team is currently not in session since they came back from Vancouver and they are all in self-quarantine as a preventive measure.
The Hong Kong and Singapore sevens were also pushed to October due to the covid-19.
The Langford 7s scheduled to take place on 2nd/3rd May but this tournament has also been postponed indefinitely; Kenya Lionesses had been preparing for this leg as they were the invitational team.
Head Coach Felix Oloo confirmed that the players have been given individual home exercises that will ensure they maintain their fitness as they wait to resume back to training. “Due to the current spread of covid-19, we have been advised to sit out the group training sessions until mid-April and we fully respect this because our players’ health is paramount. Once the dust settles then we shall pick up from where we left off as we await the directive from Kenya Rugby, Rugby Africa, and World Rugby,” he said.
Rugby Africa has also put both the men’s and women’s Africa Cup competitions on hold.
These were set to kick off on 30th May. Kenya Simbas who started their training sessions on 1st March have also had to stop this indefinitely. “Our preparations are now in shambles. However, with every challenge, there is an opportunity to find creative solutions. So that is what we have to do,” said Simbas Heach Coach, Paul Odera.
“Our training schedules included gym work, but this is also not practical now. Free body exercises will be recommended as we will have to make the best of the situation,” he concluded.
