 Welkom back. It is the touch line here on Y254. We have just been enjoying some of the best games and shows there from Kobe Bryant. Right now, we turn our attention fully focused on rugby. We got the Kenya Cup that is going on. We got the Las Vegas leg that is going on and we'll be starting tonight in Kenyan time. So, how are we performing, what is happening? And it is time to give you the preview of rugby. We had Ngarwa Kamunya here who has been with us from the sports pages. He is also joining us for this segment and now joining us on my extreme left is Kikichi Kombo, the director of development at the Kenya Rugby Union. Welkom Mualimu to the touch line. How are you doing today? Yeah, I'm okay. Yeah, yeah, hello. Hi. You guys are adversaries. Big one there. You've got the Las Vegas leg that is going on. Squad changes that were made for the team there. But what was the major change that the coach made? Well, most have been playing well. But now we're having 10 legs to go. Yes. You see now it's the strategy of the coach to make some changes. So we brought in dance school at this time round. So you have travelled, then we also have some UDH and home also coming in Andoskadenes. Yes. Now they are travelling and these are very experienced players. So we're looking forward for a good match today again in South Africa. Yes. So South Africa having made changes and we're in the area of MPFs and bringing in Chris Dry who was one of the most experienced player. Yes. So I don't know if it's fortunate or unfortunate but I know Kenyans will be able to hold them. In fact to the coach, you see how South African coach Paul was saying that Kenyans are very physical and having won in Hamilton 35, 35, 16. If it's 35, 14, he feels today again Kenyans might make a surprise. A big one for them. But 35 p.m. Yeah. Yeah. But the biggest challenge has been why that gap is 70 against 26. Yes. We now taking the 11th position is because of the changes of the format of play. But now having gone back to the old format today hopefully we will be able to do it because the last year we played quarters. So it's one game at a time and how the coach will be able to prepare the players. So we are looking forward for a big improvement today. This one. And for Las Vegas. Ngaro. Coach Paul Finney must be one of the lucky coaches in Kenya today to have a very big number, big pool of players to select from. You can change, you can leave this one and you can bring this one in. And also being an Olympic here, our players are really performing at a level that you expect them to be performing at the moment. First, only first question. Yes. I don't think in the recent past you've had a Kenya 7s coach who's had a very large pool of players. Yes. And on that one you have to give credit to the Kenya rugby union. Yes. And the technical team that has been involved in the last few years because we have seen over the last few years a transition from the stalwarts of the games to new guys. To the point where you have people like Vince Antoniolla, Johnston Olindi, Daniel Tabu who are in themselves very confident young players. So, that merged with now the Andrew Amundes, Colin Zinjera, Samuel Lee H, Oscar Umar. You have a wide pool of players to pick from. Pool of players to pick from for the Olympics now. When we touched on the Olympics there's only one, there's a problem I've been seeing with the Kenya team. Number one, if they have a very long layoff they don't perform best in the first leg. That's what we saw in Dubai. That's what we saw in Was it Hamilton? Yes. Sydney. Sydney, sorry, they have a problem and I think it boils down to maybe their conditioning, I don't know. So, you hope that they'll be able to keep up these stellar performances because I mean it doesn't feel good one week you're beating South Africa 35-16 and then the next week you're losing to I don't know who. So, it's something and I guess that's what Paul Fing is trying to do. He's trying to see what's the best combination going into the Olympics. Yeah. So, I hope that they have a fantastic performance. We must add Los Angeles is the first time the 7th is being played in Los Angeles. Yes. This year having been in Las Vegas for the last few years. So, we are hoping that they can have a fantastic show. And also there they have got fans coming out for them. This time around they are also going back to the old format because I think the women say they are not going to be performing there. Does it give our boys a little bit of moral or help that when they play in the old format they really performed very well compared to this new format that started this season? Yeah, because you know when you look at the new formats it was about pressure. You know you put a lot of pressure on this player because you know if you don't top the pool then you are out of a condition condition for the finals and that's where the points are. You are already minus 16 points. Yes. So that's where a lot of pressure and finally the coach when the coach were making substitution any small error you make substitution when you are hiring. But you see now with this one the old format you see now the game will be balanced in such a way that there was no hurry and the coach will be able to select his best players depending with the magnitude of the team. Yes. Probably we want to use certain players for South African game Canada, Ireland spending on the strength of the players. So I feel LA the old format is good and that's where the players are also used and having this player playing circuit for many years down the line later on it will be okay and I know they will be able to perform well depending on how they are prepared and how they have also acclimatized in LA. We are kicking off in pulbi against South Africa, Ireland and Canada. How do you expect of our performance? First it's good that the guys when they are maybe a week before because you travel into the west coast there are issues to do with jet lag so it's good for them to I'm sure by now they've acclimatized into the LA weather and conditions. I think it's going to be I think we're going to do well against Canada and Ireland we're going to beat them. The issue is South Africa. It's our first game. It's our first game and if the boys go out how they played in Dubai for example against South Africa they lost but it was a very competitive game if they go out or guns blazing then by all means I think they can take on South Africa and of course their introduction of Oskawoma and Sami Yuleh and Dan Zikuta he's a guy who's beaten South Africa numerous times so hopefully should be good. Technically where will we be looking at in this game to be won? We need to be good in defense retaining the ball because South Africa are very fast but if we retain the ball and we attack as a unit we defend well we'll be able to lock out South Africa but if we allow South Africa to run they are very fast and they exchange the ball very fast and the way they run you see time we played and the coach met the opposition within the first four minutes it's unacceptable so yeah because that's the pressure on how the South Africans were attacking and in fact the new was very close the margin was very close where in Dubai and in Cape Town when we played against South Africa and here the coach went ahead and made the changes and then he had also seen how South Africa were playing in Sydney so sorry in Hamilton so the best thing is once we put all the system in place the breakdowns were okay we were able to win that game then we also put them under pressure okay Kenya's first game will be against South Africa at 10.35 pm on Saturday evening this evening actually and then the second game against Ireland will be in the morning at 1.31 and then we'll be finishing the pool with Canada at 5.35 on Sunday morning so be there to be watching that but the Los Angeles leg is not the only thing that is happening in rugby that is our team that is out there but also we come back home and Kenya Cup is as hot as it can get now yeah we're in the last week of the league format yes because after this week then we move into the playoffs which is of course not got rugby so of importance this weekend is the fact that Western Bulls and Qusumu have been confirmed as the ones who are going down we have number six the number six position which is up for grabs yes I think it's between Muamba and Akuru and then you have a game actually there are three teams that are fighting for that that's Muamba, Oilas and Akuru sorry I beg your pardon Muamba is playing at Jamhuripak at 2pm actually the game should have started and then you have Oilas who are hosting Kenya Hallikwins and then you have Western Nakuru who have been given a walk over Western Bulls here Western Bulls are not going to be traveling so they already have that six position by virtue of the fact that they've been given a bonus point win so it's gonna hit up and of course there's a game people are not talking about which is KCB versus homeboys KCB homeboys are decided are decided homeboys have played very well this season you can't underestimate homeboys are they actually the only teams that have defeated KCB then Kabras them and Kabras them and Kabras yes they've defeated KCB so they play also I think it's pretty set KCB will be number two homeboys will be number three but then they'll be testing each other because once it comes to the playoffs there's a very high chance that they could meet in the semifinals so they'll be testing each other to see you know who's got it before the big let me ask is this the year that we are going to see Kabras detron KCB from the Kenya Cup title because KCB have been really been dominant in the Kenya Cup Kabras have been knocking on that door they've been knocking on that door last year they lost at the bullring to KCB home underway but they won the enterprise cup does it give us hope that this time around Kabras can actually detron the Lions well it's difficult to predict as Panao because the way things are changing you find that Kabras also have gone back to look at where they have lost but see KCB also is working out to maintain and also to improve on the areas of weakness and you find that KCB has also maintained their coach and their coach is a man who has gone with the team on the finals and they have won against Kabras so it depends on how they prepare the boys' mandate but we cannot forget about the homeboys also homeboys are also they are also content as for this title and more so with the complication of the Hong Kong and the Singapore whereby they played later so even all the seven players for homeboys will be able to be back but the Bufa Alvin Oteano will be back Jeffrey will be back there are other players who are very very good players John Stone or Lingu no it's went to KCB so yeah sorry he went to KCB he went to KCB so Bushmuale families these are very good players and they are going to be back for the semifinals so we can't rate homeboys out of this title and the way they are playing now they are playing very well remember when they were at the Lions then they were leading homeboys sorry KCB scored in the last minute and that's how they won against homeboys but homeboys were winning and also the yellow card so if they work to improve on the disciplines and they work on the department of weakness probably the DJ might take it this year because they have looked at it so it's a bit difficult anyway but I'm saying as we go the finals and how the sevens players will come in and how the coach will be able to prepare the boys it's okay we might see a difference this time round I differ just a bit for the sevens players because even from a conditioning perspective how you condition for the game of sevens and how you condition for the game of 15s are two different things so I don't think it's going to be a seamless and I don't think they'll have a serious impact on how the teams play 15s is a different ball game altogether if you ask me but do I think Kabras can be thrown KCB this year they've shown it yes they've been consistent I think Kabras' problem has always been mental it has been nothing to do with their capability it has always been from a mental perspective whenever they face up against KCB they always choke for some reason and if they're able to if they're able to get over that hurdle then it should be it should be Kabras' year but again look they sound that KCB know how to do and they know how to do it well and that is win win yeah and you cannot take that away big mention that are coming your way this afternoon on Kenya Cup we have got an early kickoff there between Nundis and Muamba at two periods actually at Dapo, Edda, Art Jamori, Shokron then at four p.m. we'll be home boys versus KCB in Nakuru there was a walkover and Nakuru we got the points again Western Bulls have been relegated then Impala Sarasens play home to Kisumu then Black Blood of Kenyatta University are playing also home to Kabras and then Oilers versus Kenya Halakun will finish off March 14th of the Kenya Cup there's also been a big improvement from Black Blood everybody expected at the start of the season that Black Blood was actually relegation bound but in the last I think three March days they have changed their way of play and they are winning marches I mean they beat Impala yeah they beat Impala yeah in home boy even Nundis also so I mean Blood have played very well especially towards the end of the Kenya Cup season Blood has played some fantastic rugby my only thing about Kenya Cup this year has been from a standards perspective I think like the standards have dipped a bit in the 15th game and it's a combination of very many things of you have the dominance of Kabras in KCB of course because they have the money and home boys because they have the money and the radians they are the teams you love to struggle these are the teams you love to struggle and maybe I mean Buona Combo is here maybe it's time the union start thinking about making Kenya Cup attractive enough for a corporate sponsor you know how you have the Buckleys Premier League or something like that yes making it attractive enough for a corporate sponsor just to side with Kenya Cup you know to improve the standards of the game I know their plans for Super Series to come back because Super Series had also really helped in terms of the standards of the game so I'm only hoping that going forward we have seen now what has happened in this season there's nothing much we can do about this season that one is done but there have been some very positive things to note you've talked about Blood's performance you've talked about many guy oilers whole boys have played very well now I can only imagine the kind of performances these teams can be putting up if they have the resources that can be seen in Cabras yeah we just sorry we'll go ahead yeah I think the way you said we have the structures and Kenya like Buona put up the structures to make the league attractive and one of the areas that we've met what we're looking we're trying to create up more leagues and also exposure to the players like Victoria Victoria Cup Victoria Cup so finally we've exposed more players to the international rugby we have defranded the way he's saying the local finders will be able not be able to make it the national team can also be able to play and I find that also goes back to South Africa look at the Stomers the way he's playing now in the Super Rugby having one World Cup and a big chunk of the players they are playing for Stomers finally now they are winning all the matches they are topping the Super Rugby league so it's the same way if we expose our national team the way we've put out the structure now with the Kenya Rugby Union we find that probably next year the league will have completely changed because of the exposures of these young men playing for the national team in different leagues and also we have a program for one to take them forward to come and then coaches also identifying some of the players to be attached to the team since South Africa so when they come back we find that people to attract more people to go and watch the issue of money is there clubs have money but the growing progressively look at oilers they also have money but look at the question they are now and probably one of the team will be locked out in the Nakuru say the Nakuru or Oilers Oilers Ya but I think we also need to work on a program where we expose the players from this particular team and make the leagues be competitive I always say one thing and you know where we are right now it's wots Yes this one thing we can never avoid and it's a fact that without money there's nothing we can do Ya we can put up all the structures but if we don't have money there's nothing we can do we can have all the plans to take these guys to South Africa I mean we did it in 2014 we saw the effect that it had on the 15th game in the country but because of lack of money we were unable to sustain it right so we have to look for that money because that's only we will be able to maintain these programs but you see sometimes in my own perspective I also come to say our Kenyan companies don't have a culture of supporting one brand of sport Yes our traditional companies we are but all the time we as media people we go out there and we talk about sponsorship and everything we usually put it on the hands of the federation it's usually that these federations are corrupt these federations are not transparent and all that but also when you flip the coin and come from the corporate perspective you realize that our own companies don't go out there and support our own look at a company like Ketepa yeah just been in existence I think since the 40s since the 30s but it has never identified itself even with one sport to go there and say can I support this sport go forward but you know many of these guys let me tell you from you see it is not and I'll go back to a conversation we were having all fair about like western leagues and specifically there and yes you see it is not I am a corporate if I'm a corporate organization it is not my work to go and source for the sports it is the other way around it's for the sport in federation to come and tell me I think this is why we should partner yes with you now I agree with you on the fact that there's a lot of ignorance on the corporate side yeah because you know again we keep on looking at sports as a past type you know that's another thing not as a not as a profession or as a business yes and that's another problem because when the corporates look at it that way then you don't expect to get a lot of support but on the flip side you see I if I'm a corporate I want a story to be sold to me yes and see why I should identify we see it very happening very well in golf okay with absinthe, Magical Canyon yes it is to happen in rugby we've gone through our problems but it is to happen in rugby we have to identify we have to identify our classes we have to identify our strong points and we have to go and tell these brands this is why you need to identify with us I was being told I don't even Marimo was in attendance but I was being told that the Kenya Rugby Union had a breakfast with the stakeholders of rugby this week and I had one of the comments that was said is that Tsaru which is the South African rugby union has a budget of 200 million dollars for the 2023 World Cup they are already in play yes and I said okay fine we can't match up with those guys but the reason why this case of a budget of 200 million dollars is because they are not only depending on sponsorship and those are some of the things I have been challenged in the union to come up with if you go to South Africa if you go to Cape Town for example they have a springbok museum yes which is Manisaru make-off because if you tour the museum you have to pay and rarely will you live when I went there by the way a small thing I left with a mug and a cigarette lighter for a friend of mine yes that's money they've made how small it is so those are some of the things I wish I would be seeing in Kenya because the 200 million dollars doesn't come from MTN alone those Tsaru titles or the government or the government you know I'm sure when the government doesn't give them too much money most of the money comes from internal things making it very attractive for corporates to sponsor with you and I always go back to Australia I was being told by somebody who was part of the 15th team when 15th was at the height they went to visit former president Moaikibaki and Moaikibaki was challenging the other unions why can't you guys run like Kenya rugby union these guys never come to us to ask us for money yes right we never by the way it is unheard of I would like to have a minna rugby fan it's only now that I hear rugby asking for money from the government it was unheard of those days so those are the things I'm hoping that Moaikibaki and his team can do yeah but see now also the sport is changing and the government is now taking seriously unlike in the past whereby now they have set up sports fund and they're asking for your budget yeah they're asking for your budget and they're coming to federation yes and so we find that you have to comply with what the union Kenya rugby being one of the federation they also submitted our budget for the next one year so it is a requirement but the way he said we Kenya rugby union has also put up measures of attracting the sponsors and the way he said and our chairman Ador Gangla is on the forefront talking with big people locally and also we are looking outside the border yes just look like Innos who knew that the one that sponsored Kipchoge Kipchoge yeah so such a company is there outside there so we are also working out to reach to some of these companies that they are not known and that's why we are going to have this program that we are going to do it quarterly last week on Tuesday we had a meeting here in Westlands so we are looking again for another one and people are asking how are you guys you bring your proposals we want to put in rugby yeah so put the money in the federation and also put money on the clubs so also on the leagues people to have Kenya Cup we also have the nationwide and the championship so we are looking for that kind of a sponsorship and it will be able to come and it also needs about how we prepare safe and how we package ourselves as the union this conversation can go on all the way and it cannot come to an end so Ngaro which game will you be following this? of course I mean I think all roads sorry I beg your pardon all roads are leading to Jamuri Park Muamba versus Nondes has already started and of course the big one KCB versus Homeboys not only you enjoy that you also have a chance to watch Super Rugby and the LL and the Los Angeles Sevens yeah for you you're also heading like that yeah for the Bohela in Gongrod yeah and I'll be in ready for the night game to share Kenya play the LL Sevens today why I won't sleep today if you are rugby fan and you are serious rugby fan actually people are not going to sleep today because we play South Africa 10 we play island at one and then we play Canada at five in the morning and before that during the day you have got all the matches in the Kenya Cup to enjoy yourself with them Ropa Rosula in for the touch line here it has been Ngaro Kamuna here was come for us here and as always Malimuki Kechi combo was here with us for the rugby preview let's take a short commercial break and then just some highlights of the Europa League when we come back it's all about the fan zone