Kenya Cup Champions Kabras RFC have made changes to their Technical Bench ahead of the new Kenya Cup season scheduled to kick off this coming weekend.
Carlos Katywa, who joined the club from Rhodes Rugby a year ago as an assistant and forwards coach, takes over as head coach of the club, succeeding Jerome Muller. He will have three former Kabras players on his coaching staff.
Katywa’s journey
The coach was born in Umtata and he gained over 50 caps for the Graeme College first rugby team and and earned his provincial colours for Eastern Province.
He was given the opportunity to play in England for a brief time, and upon his return, he joined the Sharks Academy before joining Rovers Rugby Club. Injuries eventually took its toll, and he ended his playing career.
According to Grocotts Carlos has bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Forty Hare.
He later joined Border U/19 and U/20 teams, where he worked with Elliot Fana (Border Bulldogs) and Lumumba Currie (South African Rugby Academy).
In 2014, he was named head coach of UFH. In 2016, he led the team to the Varsity Shield final, where they were defeated by the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
In 2017, he was offered the opportunity to return to the EP rugby setup as the Rhodes University first-team coach, which he accepted. He is credited for turning around a very little structure in the rugby department where he shouldered much of the team responsibilities, such as head coach, conditioning coach, and team physio.
After a poor start, he changed the fortunes of Rhodes rugby, and in the 2021 edition of the Varsity Shield, the Rhodes side caught the eye of many of their opponents where they played some competitive rugby. He later left to take up Kabras role.
Former Kabras trio part of TB
Geoffrey Messo has been named team manager, with former captain Max Adaka, who led the side in the sevens campaign, taking on the role of forwards coach.
Felix Ayange will serve as the skills coach and will work alongside Richard Ochieng in the Strength and Conditioning department. The backs will be coached by Edwin Achayo.
Ayange and Adaka recently earned their coaching badges and have been assigned to the bench. The rest of the roles are unchanged.
Kabras Head coach Carlos Katywa issues instruction a past match. Photo Courtesy/ Adolwa Miliza for Kabras
“Currently, we have Max working with forwards, Achayo is working with backs. Felix Ayange is the skills coach and will also assist Strength and Conditioning coach Richard Ochieng. We have Philemon Odidi, head of physios and will work with Redemptor Chepwogen. Geoffrey Messo is our TM and he is in charge of our administration issues,” Katywa confirmed during an interview.
Lean Technical team
The coach says he considers to work with a lean technical team but hinted at having an analyst on board in future.
“We are considering adding analysist on board in future but we still busy working on that. Its unfortunate we lost the head coach but that is what we have now. We don’t want to have a larger technical bench where ideas clash,” he stated.
Katywa who led Kabras to clinch the Victoria Cup now shifts focus on the Kenya Cup season as he hopes to lead the Sugarmen to defend the title they won last season.
