Despite the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Women 7s tournament being to September, the national women rugby team, the Blackbacks have stepped up their preparations to three training sessions a week.

Blackbacks coach Jean de la Paix Hategekimana told Times Sport that the reason for keeping the foot on the accelerator is because the team has a couple of new faces who, need more time to gel before the tournament that will be held in Kampala, Uganda.

"We need to build a strong bond in the team since we now have many new faces in the side. We also have a reputation to keep since we are one of the region’s top sides,” Hategekimana said.

Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and hosts Uganda are some of the teams Rwanda will contend with in the two day event.

In a related development, the national rugby federation (RRF) has planned a veteran tournament as part preparations for an upcoming friendly against a veteran Burundian side.

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