Shujaa boss Simiyu to use Safland 7s to shape squad

Kenya 7s coach Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu hopes to have a better idea of his first touring squad for the opening legs of the HSBC World Series when he leads the side for the first time at the Safland 7s in Namibia next weekend.

Simiyu who started work with his provisional squad of this week is racing against time to get Shujaa ready for the Dubai 7s in December having been appointed to the post last month.

With his tenure at the helm barely two weeks old, the former captain admitted the team is yet to fully adopt the principles and core values he is instilling but hopes the invitational tournament will offer a glimpse of the scale of the task in hand before the 2016/17 season gets underway.

The former Impala Saracens skipper and coach pointed out he was setting up the team to be more consistent having posted contrasting performances last season particularly finding a remedy for the perennial poor start to the HSBC Series.

“We have done a lot of thinking on how we approach the sessions so we have a better plan. For now we are focusing on building a stable foundation so that at least we can keep up our own pace during the season.

“We’ve set the bar high for them and hopefully they will achieve it by the time the new season kicks off. We want to esnure their conditioning is all good because we are looking at the whole season,” Namcos asserted.

Speaking to Citizen Digital during Australia Wallabies legend, David Campese’s visit, Simiyu noted his side will reap heavily from the former winger’s vast knowledge of the sport.

“He has helped us in how we approach small aspects of the game and how to execute them. We’ve already learnt a lot from him and want to implement the same going forward. He’s helped us become a bit more decisive,” the former sevens and 15’s skipper added.

Other teams participating in Safland 7’s include defending champions South Africa, USA, Germany, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Nigeria.