The trip comes a few months after their head coach Curtis Olago traveled down South in July for a 15-day high performance training at Western Province. It follows on a similar 10-day pre-season tour by the bankers in 2017 to the same facilities from late June.
A statement from KCB bank said “this follows an invitation from the Western Province Rugby Union. The team will have training sessions under the watchful eyes of Western Province Manager, High Performance training at the Western Cape Sports School Jerome Paarwater.”
KCB Head of Customer Experience Job Njiru says the tour is key for the club as they continue to seek National dominance.
“We have had such a brilliant season lifting the Kenya Cup this year, the exposure from SA trip will ensure KCB RFC remains dominant come next season”, said Job Njiru, who is the teams patron.
KCB Team Manager Phillip Wamae has lauded the Bank for sponsoring the team to the Western Province Rugby Union after the brilliant 2017/18 season adding that the trip will be a major contributory factor to the team’s preparation for the 2018/2019 rugby season as well as the Kenya Cup later this year.
“The SA tour will offer exposure to world class training for the players and the technical bench.”
Following their trip last year, KCB put their SA lessons to good use and were able to brush off a tough Impala Saracens 18-17 in November to reclaim the Impala Floodlit title tournament that they had last won in 2015.
They went on to stop a vastly improved Kabras Sugar 29-24 in March this year to retain the Kenya Cup title. They were unbeaten in 13 games in the season and to crown it all their junior side dethroned repeat champions Impala Saracens 22-17 to also add the Eric Shirley Shield to their trophy cabinet.
KCB will put their new drills in this year’s trip to Western Province to immediate practice at the Impala Floodlit tournament that kicks off on 13 October.
Slightly over a month later – on 17 November they will host promoted Menengai Oilers as they start their Kenya Cup title defense.
