Kabras forwards coach Carlos Katywa has said youngsters in the squad have an integral role to play in their quest to retain Kenya Cup trophy they won last season.
Speaking to Scrummage Africa after their 46-0 Victoria Cup semifinal win against Mbale RFC on Saturday 29, Katywa said the youngsters will provide the squad depth needed in the team which will ease the pressure on the senior players.
“There must always be an introduction of new blood into the system as early as possible so that we don’t find a situation where we have no depth and no new players. We’ve got have an exodus system and new players coming in and filling in that gap. The first phase of the upcoming Kenya Cup season will see these youngsters being given opportunity to allow guys who will be coming off the national team rest,” he said.
The sugar men currently have nine players in Kenya Simbas squad for the Final Qualifying Tournament that is scheduled for November 6 to November 18, just eight days shy of the new Kenya Cup season that starts on November 26, 2022.
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The nine include club and national team captain Dan Sikuta, George Nyambua, Eugine Sifuna, Brian ‘Tonya’ Otieno, Brian Tanga, Teddy Akala, Ephraim Oduor, Joseph Odero and Bryceson Adaka.
Although Katywwa insisted the senior players are equally important, he noted that a proper rebuilding phase to replace these players in the future is key, and admitted the program is currently under way at the club.
“We are on the verge of rebuilding the team. The guys in the national team have an average age of 25 years. Five years to come they’ll be approaching the end of their peak and as time continues we are going to lose those players. We’ve got to have a proper exodus system and new players coming in and filling in that gap,” he noted
“We have a program at the club being headed by Edwin Achayo, which introduces players to Kabras RFC straight from high school. We get them into camps and clinics and try to get them into our structures as early as possible,” he added.
Eugine Sifuna, currently with the Simbas squad, Barry Robinson who has featured for the national team before and Kevin Wekesa, currently with the Kenya Shujaa team in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong 7s are some of the notable names to have emerged from the Kabras academy.
