- Matoka Matoka stated that the high-performance training camp he had in South Africa was crucial in his rugby development.
- Matoka is one of the talented players who are training with the Kenya Morans ahead of the 2025 Rugby Africa 7s Cup.
- Matoka is fighting for a chance to represent the Kenya Morans in an international tournament for the first time in his promising career.
Following intense training in South Africa, highly rated Kenyan rugby player Matoka Matoka is ready to roar for the Kenya Morans.
Matoka is one of the stars who have been sharpening their skills at the Kenya Morans camp for three weeks now ahead of the 2025 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens Cup.
According to Matoka, the high-performance training that he had in South African under the guidance of Coach Frankie Horne has made him a better player.
Matoka Matoka explains how high-performance camp helped him
The former Kenya U20 captain told SportPesa Blog that the three-month programme helped him comprehend the essence of a positive attitude.
“I would say I have a much better attitude towards everything. The key thing we were always being told there was to come with the right attitude and everything will go smoothly. If you have a bad attitude, things won’t go your way.
When I got there I was from a concussion. I hadn’t trained as much and then they were pushing me to my extremes. So, the first month I would say, I used to sleep by 10 pm, something that doesn’t happen. So, it was kind of tough but after the first month, I adjusted to it and everything became better,” he explained.
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Matoka also disclosed that coming back home and training with experienced Kenyan players has not been easy.
As stated by the Alliance High School alumni, he has been adjusting to the high level of intensity displayed by his teammates particularly those who featured in the recently ended World Rugby HSBC 7s Series.
Andrew Matoka speaks on childhood dream
Matoka, who had a chance to train with the national side in 2021, further stated that his main objective is to try and make it to the final squad that will compete in the Africa Rugby 7s Cup.
“Everybody has goals and one of my goals was to represent the national team at both 15s and 7s levels. Making the team would mean I tick one of my boxes. I would feel very proud to represent my country,” he ended.
Shujaa technical bench impressed by Matoka’s report
Meanwhile, Shujaa assistant coach Louis Kisia has praised Matoka for the good job that he did in South Africa.
“We have called a couple of new faces. We have called Matoka, Kibet from the Oilers, who are here with us in the camp. We just wanted to see what they have. Matoka we gave him an opportunity with the head coach to go to South Africa to train under Frankie Horne at the high performance.
His report was sent to us and the report looked really good. And we said why not give him a chance and see if he can bring all the experience that he got in South Africa,” commented Kisia.
Should Matoka get an opportunity to represent the country in the Rugby Africa 7s Cup that is scheduled to take place in Mauritius between June 21 and June 22, he will have a huge role to play to help Kenya lift the coveted title.
Kenyan Morans, who have been grouped in Pool A alongside defending champions Uganda, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, will be seeking to reclaim the title they won in 2023.
As the continental showpiece looms, Matoka will continue to give his best in training and hope to be among the stars selected who will represent the nation in Mauritius.
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