National rugby league defending champions Thousand Hills RFC coach Serge Shema believes his team has what it takes to win back to back league titles.

Shema is confident the Gikondo-based side will defend the title they won last season, for the first time as the 2017 season comes close to kick off later this month.

Thousand Hills, which was formed three years ago, had a good run last season winning two tournaments including the league as well as the Kigali Sharks 7 aside.

"We had a good season last year and we hope to do even better in 2017, the objective is to dominate every competition to play in, we want to be the best rugby club in Rwanda,” Shema told Times Sport.

He added that, "We have already started pre-season training, however, to be able to achieve our targets, calls for solid and selfless work from the players and the club’s management.”

Thousand Hills Rugby Football Club was founded in 2014 as a composition of young boys from around the suburbs of Gikondo and Nyamirambo, and within three years, they have become the biggest threat to Remera Buffaloes dominancy of Rwandan rugby.

Like any debutant, the first season didn’t go well for the youthful side, under Jimmy Adams Mugabo as coach/player as they failed to win anything, but that didn’t put them down completely, it instead gave them the impetus to work even harder the following year.

In 2015, they finished second in the league behind champions Remera Buffaloes, who won the title match 17-10. Thousand Hills also lost to Lion de Fer in the final of the Kigali Sharks 7 tournament.

This year’s league will comprise eight clubs including; Thousands Hills, Remera Buffaloes, Kigali Sharks, Lion de Fer, Rusizi Resilience, Kamonyi Puma, Muhanga and UR-Grizzlies.

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