Coach Buyachi confident as Oilers polish rough edges ahead of National Circuit

Menengai Oilers assistant coach Lawi Buyachi says his charges are hard in training in readiness for the upcoming National Sevens Circuit.

According to Buyachi, his boys have been in camp for over six weeks now and are in pristine condition, three weeks to the start of the circuit.

 “The preparations have been okay. I think we started six weeks ago and we're entering week seven. The boys look sharp, and I think the progressions have been well. Physically, the boys look stronger and I think in terms of tactical and technical awareness, a little improvement. What we're looking at is to just prepare better for; we didn't have a very good show last season, and finished fourth. We're trying to finish a number up, up from four and I think it's very important for us to start strong and go into Prinsloo 7s in Nakuru.”

The former Kisumu RFC tactician says they’ve been featuring in test matches to test technical and skill levels of the boys ahead of the competition and they’re happy with progress made so far, but is quick to point out there are areas to fine tune before the tourney kicks off.

“We had a game over the weekend, a friendly game with Nakuru and Kabarak University, just to build up and see how we are doing. It was a great show. Nakuru put their best side around, Kabarak put their best side and we were competitive.”

“A lot of lessons picked that we can improve in the next three weeks going into competition.”

Oilers will miss key players such as John Okoth and Samuel Ovwamu who are with the national 15s side for the World Cup qualifiers but he’s content with the quality of the entire squad.

“We're just missing a couple of boys… like Abukuse (Dennis). He was with Shujaa in Mauritius, John Okoth, Timothy Omela, Samuel Ovwamu  - with the Simbas,-  so, I think we trusted the younger boys to do their duty, but there's nothing to worry about. So basically, I think in terms of preparation, we are in top gear.”

Oilers finished fourth in last year’s National Sevens Circuit and will be hoping to go one step forward in this year’s edition as they chase their second sevens circuit win.