Menengai Oilers, the defending champions of the National 7s Circuit, are remaining calm and focused despite a slow start to the season.

Head coach Gibson Weru has expressed confidence in his team and believes they are not under pressure, but rather focused on improving their performance.

Menengai Oilers coach task

Weru emphasized that his primary responsibility is to ensure the players are performing to their full potential.

While acknowledging that they haven’t reached the desired level of performance yet, he remains optimistic about their capabilities.

The team is motivated to perform at a high level and is primarily focused on internal expectations rather than external pressures.

“I do not feel any pressure at the moment. My duty is to make sure that the players are playing to their capabilities. I believe at the moment we are not performing at the level we need to be performing at, we know what we are capable of doing so are we able to do that at a high level? So that’s the kind of pressure we are under, not external pressure,” Weru told the club’s media.

Looking ahead to the upcoming Driftwood 7s tournament in Mombasa, Weru stated that their goal is to bounce back and have a successful day one.

They are placed in a challenging pool alongside CUEA Monks, MMUST Rugby, and Strathmore University. The team aims to secure a spot in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

“In Mombasa we have to fight back and make sure that we have a good day one in a tough pool that has CUEA Monks, MMUST Rugby and Strathmore University. Our ultimate goal is to be able to play in the quarter-final on Sunday,” he said.

Menengai Oilers reflection

Reflecting on their recent performance at Dala 7s, Weru admitted that they fell short of their own expectations.

The tournament served as a valuable learning experience, allowing the team to identify areas of improvement.

They are experimenting with different combinations, some of which did not yield the desired results. However, Weru remains optimistic that they will find the right combinations as the tournament progresses.

“A very tough outing in Dala, we did not finish where we expected. As a team, we fell short of our own expectations. Dala really taught me some valuable lessons. At the moment we are experimenting with a few combinations which backfired on us. At the moment it is not a big problem per se but I think that towards the business end of the tournament, we did get to see some working combinations,” he revealed.

“Our decision-making in the breakdown was also wanting. We were penalized severally and we ended up conceding points. As a team, we are very disappointed in our performance. The performance itself deflates the weight of expectation from people but at the same time, what we expect of ourselves is quite high,”he added.

Menengai Oilers have brought in Kenyan International Sam Onsomu, Timothy Lugalia and Amos Onyinkwa.