Owuor said Leos will be going for nothing less than a playoff place by winning as many matches as possible in the new home and away format introduced for this season’s competition.

“So we are going to give 27 and we are going to roll our 100 per cent play…the way we want it. I don’t think we will wait to have a home advantage. If we are playing away, we want to bring our best game same as when we are playing at home. It is all about having that mental fortitude to win,” he said.

In the 2022/2023 season, the students won four matches and lost seven more to finish seventh — outside of the playoff places — with 20 points.

Owuor is confident this season’s Leos are a different breed from the previous one, having boosted their playing ranks with young players who are hungry for success.

“What I am happy about is that we have the numbers and we have the boys who are really putting in the shift…in the gym and working out. As the coach said, we will have friendlies just to see how our system is playing and how everyone is fitting in. We are eager to get to the Kenya Cup and to provide better performances…we are aiming for the playoffs. We are aiming for the moon, which is the semi-finals,” the skipper said.

A source of solace and inspiration for Owuor and Co. is their impressive showing at the National Sevens Circuit (NSC) in which they finished third on the log with 95 points — 18 behind eventual winners Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).

He said going toe-to-toe with the big boys in the NSC has done wonders for their belief as far as achieving their Kenya Cup goals is concerned.

“We have so many young lads with so much potential. Bringing that 7s attitude to the 15s will be very important. We performed very well in the 7s and I hope by the end of the Kenya Cup, we will be third or even second overall. We have so many players from Chipu (national Under 20 side) and some from the successful Rugby Africa 7s, including our coach. We also have more of our players being called to the national team and I believe this will add to the overall confidence or the skillset as well as the mental fortitude,” Owuor explained.

Coach Louis ‘Fadhee’ Kisia’s side began the 15s season on a slippery note, going down 17-13 to fellow students, Kenyatta University Blak Blad in the quarterfinal of the Impala Floodlit Tournament at the Impala Grounds last Saturday.

Owuor was not keen on dwelling on the negatives of that encounter, noting that the match was simply an eyeopener on what they need to do to reach peak level.

“Losing the match does not necessarily mean everything went wrong. I think we picked a lot considering we are just starting the season. There were so many learning points from this game…we ran our system the way we wanted and I think Blak Blad worked really well and they did their homework. They beat us in taking their chances well and they took it seriously,” he observed.