Amavubi Stars assistant captain Haruna Niyonzima is keen to win Wednesday's international friendly match against rivals Uganda Cranes at Amahoro stadium.

The Yanga playmaker, who will skipper the national team in the absence of Olivier Karekezi, is excited about leading Amavubi against Uganda, who come into the game as favourites.

Despite the game being just a friendly, clashes between the two bitter rivals always tend to be closely fought affairs, and Haruna, who has played a couple is determined to win it for the fans.

"We have to show that we are capable of doing well, after failing to do that on a number of occasions last year. This time we need to show that we are progressing well as a team, we must make better use of home advantages to demonstrate to Rwandans that we're a good team," Haruna told Times Sport on Monday.

In a show of maturity, the midfielder admitted that it's the players to blame for the team's dismal runs of results last year.

He said, "We (players) are the ones to be blamed for poor performances last year, but we have to remember we're a relatively young team with little experience playing in international matches."