Kenya Sevens head coach Innocent Simiyu wants to use this weekend's Safland Sevens tournament in Swakopmund, Namibia to get his charges ready for the upcoming Sevens World Series.
Kenya's preparations ahead of the first Sevens Series tournament in Dubai started a while ago already, and now the coach wants to use the Safland Sevens to get some game time in the legs of the players against top opposition.
Kenya's main rivals for the Safland title will come from hosts Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and a South African All Stars team
"Everything has been good, our pre-season has been good, we've been able to condition the players and also improve their skills while bringing in new players who are skilled," Simiyu told the Kenya Rugby website.
"It's a long season, there'll be ups and downs, but we know and believe we will be able to meet our targets (in Namibia) as we have done enough in terms of preparations.
"The Safland Sevens is next for us, and hopefully we can test the new combinations and players at a higher level at the competition phase. Once we are done with Safland, we'll be ready to go to Dubai."
The Kenya team will fly to Namibia after a 10-day camp, which was used to breed team spirit as well trying new game plans and working on some key areas of their game they struggled with last year.
"We have been able to try out new things with regard to how we want to play the upcoming series," Simiyu added.
"We are pretty much satisfied with how things have progressed and the new things that we are bringing into our game. We have also had the opportunity to try new players at a higher level in terms of the intensity that we are operating at.
"There are some good players who we will see coming into the team, while it was an advantage for us to sort out issues related to the set piece, particularly the kickoffs and lineouts."
Kenya Sevens squad for Safland Sevens
Frank Wanyama, Dan Sikuta, Brian Tanga,Samuel Oliech, Oscar Ayodi, Nelson Oyoo, Herman Humwa, Charles Omondi, Jeff Oluoch, Eden Agero, Eric Ombasa, Sam Muregi.