Hannington Ambaka, Paul Oimbo, Anthony Nyandigisi & Quinto Ongo would have desired to board the Friday morning bus to Mombasa but the Resolution Impala Saracens technical bench will have them stay in Nairobi as non-travelling reserves. The technical team comprising Frank Ndong’, Oscar Osir & Nick Abok has released a team of 12+1 players to do duty for the club this 2nd & 3rd September 2017.
In clarifying selection criteria to our media team, Head Coach – Frank Ndong poised, “Our basis was on current form and not history. The 13 players on the travelling list are those who are in their prime and have checked all boxes on our preparedness checklist. I am pleased with preparedness and hope for a beautiful result from Driftwood 7s.”
Resolution Impala Saracens backs coach – Oscar Osir confirmed Ndong’s words with assurance, “All the 22 players who made the 2017 7s team cut are capable, but only the 13 players selected to travel are the most ready. Our captain – Leon Adongo reported groin pain 2 weeks ago but recovered and has been cleared by the medical team to rally the other 12 to glory this weekend. We take our medical team’s recommendations very seriously. All is not lost for those not selected to play in Mombasa this weekend. We have a rotational structure in place & you’ll obviously see a player who didn’t play at Driftwood play at Kabeberi or Sepetuka and so on. It could be easy to state that we are going to Mombasa to finish at Y or X position, but ours has always been creating a workable structure that we can use throughout the season to achieve the best results. The structure is: One Game At a Time.”
In answering to how Non Travelling Reserves (NTR) will be required to join the team, Osir confirmed, “If say a player cannot travel on Friday due to happenings beyond our control, an NTR will take his spot. Another instance would be if we have injuries in Mombasa, we’ll definitely pick an NTR. Our foresight and past experience has taught us a lesson & that’s why we have the 13th player travelling as well.”
Nick Abok, who is the third tributary of the 7s coaching team and has been working with the boys when Oscar & Ndong were in London, UK attending the Saracens Conference had this to say, “If we were allowed, we would bring all 22 players to Driftwood7s, but the structures can only allow us a specific number. At the beginning of the season, every player is given targets & it is up to players to dig deeper and exceed the depths. The 13 players on our travelling list are the ones who have gone a notch better than the others. This is not our final 7s squad anyway. The other 9 players are still in the pool of selection. We have 6 legs of the 2017 7s circuit to play. A rotational mechanic will definitely come into play throughout the season. I am very happy with the preparations. I am strongly confident of a good outing in Mombasa. You can see it in the boys’ faces beaming with excitement!”
Resolution Impala Saracens team to Driftwood 7s
1. Davies Makori
2. Leon Adongo (C)
3. Ian Minjire
4. Joash Ngesa
5. Paul Mustami
6. Joel Omer
7. Richard Sidindi
8. Ian Mabwa
9. Robin Kiplangat
10. George Okowa (Vc)
11. Samuel Motari (Utility)
12. Billy Omondi
13. Mark Kwemoi
Non Travelling Reserves
