Tunisia, Ghana ready for Africa Women’s Sevens in Nairobi

Tunisia’s coach Arnaud Le Berrie detailed his team’s build-up —a Safari 7s outing followed by a training camp in Kenya.

He said the safari was “a good experience for all the team … because it’s a good competition with five and six very good teams.”

“We do ten training camps in Tunisia and one training camp in Kenya … the training camp safari and African camp … that was I think a very good training plan.”

“Target was … experience, play together … for African Cup target is to do a very good quarter-final and maybe to play South Africa in semifinal. I think players can do that if they play together, they are very very good players … if we have 12 players I think we can play that semifinal against South Africa.”

On the broader development of women’s rugby in Africa he added: “The level from women’s teams it’s very very good … we see in safari Kenya was a very good team, Uganda was a very good team … one year, two years … I think we are good to go.”

From Ghana, both coach Lovia Ghartey and captain Pauline Mensah echoed similar determination.

Though they accept they are not favourites, they emphasised that “we’re not going to discount any team” and that they’re “ready” for the challenge ahead.

Hosted by Nairobi’s RFUEA Grounds, the 12-team tournament is a key fixture on the continent’s women’s rugby calendar. It also doubles as a qualification route for the global series for women’s sevens.

Pools will include. Pool A: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mauritius Pool B: Kenya (hosts), Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire Pool C: Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso Pool D: Madagascar, Tunisia, Egypt Fixture highlights Saturday 15 November – Day One: 09:00 – Tunisia vs Egypt 12:44 – Kenya vs Côte d’Ivoire 16:06 – Kenya vs Ghana