Global Network coach visit- Impala Saracens
Owain Davies the Saracens community coach visited Impala Saracens in Nairobi to work with the club both on and off the field during December 2014. Impala Saracens the latest club to join the Global Network play in the premier Kenyan league called ‘The Kenya Cup’.
Saracens went out to Impala Saracens to support senior coaching 1st and 2nd XV, academy and community development. Upon arrival to Nairobi Owain was greeted and transferred 3hrs to Impala’s fixture against current champions Nakuru. The game was very physical and fast flowing and the upper hand of the Nakuru forwards hampered any opportunity for the talented back line of Impala to create opportunities. As a result Nakuru ended up convincing winners.
Owain Davies, community coach, said “Impala Saracens have an abundance of skill and creativity available within the club, with more attention to detail and accuracy in attack Impala Saracens will be a force to be reckoned with. In defense we want to adopt the hunting mentality and meeting the opposition on their side of the gain line. This took a little while to understand and to put these principles into play but after the 1st training session we were already seeing huge improvements”.
Before senior training Impala hold community training for young children, any one can turn up and from any age. The field is covered with young enthusiastic and raw rugby talent from neighboring slums playing bare foot in jeans and a tshirt. A lot of these young children turn up for an additional reason to rugby, post training players get a banana and a drink and for some, this is all they will eat that day.
The week finished off with a local derby with Harlequins. Impala Saracens were fighting to get themselves into the top half of the table and Harlequins were in the top 3. However the league standing for this game meant nothing and it was a full blooded derby. Impala Saracens had brought previous captains in to talk to the team pre game. Impala Saracens ran out very confident and were up against a big pack but their intensity at the break down and clinical execution kept Quins quiet. The defensive display that lacked in the previous game was greatly improved and even though Harlequins were camped on the Impala Saracens try line for 5 minutes they couldn’t break through. This defense lead to the 1st try with and interception on the 5M and the Impala wing running the length of the pitch to score. Impala continued in the same vain in the game until the 65th minute when 2 quick Quins tries swung the game and eventually Quins were victories. Final score of Quins 21-Impala Saracens 14.
