Shujaa Coach Shares What Gives Him Confidence of HSBC SVNS 2 Success as He Names Strong Team

Kenya Sevens coach Kevin Wambua has named an experienced squad for the World Rugby 2026 HSBC SVNS 2 tournament set to take place in Nairobi this weekend.

The country will host a major international tournament when Nairobi stages the next leg of World Rugby’s second tier sevens competition from February 14-15.

Given they will be playing at home and the stadium is already sold out, Wambua knows his team must put up a good show and go all the way and clinch the title.

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With that in mind, the Shujaa coach has named a squad with international experience with an addition of young players.

George Ooro and Samuel Asati will captain the 12-member team that also has try machine Patrick Odongo, whose darting runs down the flank are set to light up Nyayo Stadium.

Kevin Wekesa, John Okoth, Dennis Abukuse, Nygel Amaitsa, Floyd Wabwire, Chrisant Ojwang and David Nyangige as well as speedsters Vincent Onyala, Festus Shiasi complete the lineup.

“We have really firmed up our preparations for this tournament especially this year,” Wambua told the media on Monday as he named the team.

“We had a high-performance camp in South Africa for a week last month and our key objective was just to set a base to see where we are in terms of our attack and defence frameworks. We ticked a few boxes but it was also an eye-opener for us. We learned a few things,” he further stated.

Kenya will square it out with USA, Uruguay, Germany, Canada and Belgium for the men’s title with Nairobi being the first of three legs of the HSBC SVNS 2. The second leg will be staged in Montevideo, Uruguay (March 21-22) and the third in Sao Paulo, Brazil (March 28-29.)

The top four teams from SVNS 2 earning a promotion to the SVNS World Championship, where they will face the top eight sides from SVNS Division 1 at the season’s final events Hong Kong, Valladolid, and Bordeaux.

From the combined pool of 12 teams, the top eight will secure Division 1 status for the 2027 SVNS season.

Shujaa will be keen to stay at the top of the log from the opening leg to the last to clinch a place in the playoffs.