Kabras gear up for Kenya Cup opener

Kenya Cup defending champions Kabras Sugar RFC have stepped up their off-season training as they gear towards the start of the new season that kicks off next month.

Club Captain George Nyambua says they have been sweating it off in the gym to improve their conditioning before embarking on full training.

“For the 15s players, we have been busy with our off-season training, gym conditioning, and field sprint, and we are at week 5.

“We are doing quite well since the season will begin mid-next month, and we are up to par with our conditioning program.”

Nyambua says players who were involved in the just concluded national sevens circuit are yet to resume training, having been granted a break after a grueling circuit in which they finished second behind champions Kenya Harlequins.

“The 15s players are the only ones back in training. The 7s players have been given time off to rest after finishing the national 7s circuit, so I think they will resume after the completion of their rest period.”

Kabras Sugar will not be participating in the upcoming floodlit tournament set to be held here in Nairobi over two weekends owing to the huge financial burden that comes with participating in the tourney.

They will instead use the annual Victoria Cup set to be played by clubs in the Western and Nyanza belt later this month.

“We, as Kabras Sugar, are not playing in the Floodies tournament because it's quite costly for the Kabras to commute to Nairobi for two weekends from Kakamega.

“The distance also results in fatigue for the players just before the season’s kick-off.

“So, we prefer playing in the Victoria Cup, which is for teams based here in Western, such as MMUST, Kisumu, and Kabras, and it will help towards preparation for the Kenya Cup kick-off.”

The new Kenya Cup season is set to kick off mid-next month after the completion of the floodlit tournament.