NAIROBI, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's sevens rugby head coach Innocent Simiyu has made two changes to his team ahead of a critical April schedule that will see Shujaa play at the World Series, the Hong Kong Sevens, the Commonwealth Games and the Singapore Sevens.
Simiyu made the changes to the side that reached the cup final at the Canada Sevens in Vancouver, handing a debut to Ian Minjire while Augustine Lugonzo returns after missing out in the North American tour due to personal commitments. They replace Samuel Ng'ethe and Erick Ombasa.
"Our preparations have been good and our key focus right now is making sure the players rectify the small mistakes and to be fit to play in Hong Kong. Hopefully we can start hitting our standards in Hong Kong," Simiyu said Wednesday in Nairobi.
Kenya's women's team coach Kevin Wambua has also named his squad for the upcoming assignment at the Commonwealth Games and the Hong Kong Sevens, where the Lionesses will be bidding to secure a berth as one of the core teams in the women's World Series.
The Hong Kong Sevens will be held next weekend (April 6-7) before the teams head to Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games in Australia (April 13-14).
A week after, the men's team will be in Singapore for the eighth stop in the series, hoping to win the Main Cup, which they last clinched in 2016.
"Of course Commonwealth Games is a big tournament, everyone is eyeing a medal. We believe how we perform in Hong Kong will more or less set the pace with regard to the Commonwealth Games," said Simiyu.
"For us this is like the peak point of the season because we have Hong Kong which is a very big tournament, Commonwealth Games which is one of the highlights of the season and also Singapore where we won two years ago and have always played well there," he said.
"The key thing is how we manage the players because the hard work was to ensure that they are fit to play and recover well and this was done during the pre-season," he added.
The Kenya women's team, the Lionesses, has named 12 players for Sevens World Series qualifiers in Hong Kong but will have 13 players in Gold Coast when Stacy Awuor links up with the team there.
Kenya have been grouped in Pool B for the Hong Kong Sevens with Australia, France and Spain while they will fight it out with New Zealand, Canada and Zambia in Pool C of the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens competition.
