First series points lift Kenya

Many would say Kenya sevens team doesn’t belong there. Nevertheless, the team brought back some smiles when they crushed Tonga 19-0 to lift Wellington Sevens bowl and claim its first points of the season.

The victory saw them bag four points and are now placed 10th in the IRB World Sevens Series, as they turn their focus to USA Sevens in Las Vegas this weekend.

The surge must be upheld even though things won’t be easy at the USA Sevens where they are up against New Zealand, who are fresh from winning Wellington Sevens, world champions Wales and Uruguay.

The All Blacks are on form having followed up their triumph in George Sevens where they edged out Dubai Sevens winners England 22-19 with another nerve-rattling show in front of their home fans on Saturday.

The Gordon Tietjens’ charges who lost to England 19-14 at Dubai Sevens main Cup semis, are now tied at the top of the world standings with Britons on 64 points apiece and would go for nothing shot of victory in Las Vegas.

Wales have also been consistent to reach the main Cup quarterfinals before being relegated to end their run in Plate semis in all the three legs to tie on seventh place with Argentina with 18 points each.

Kenya have lost to Wales twice since beating them in the pool stage at last year’s Adelaide Sevens. On the other hand, the Kenyans last drew 19-19 with All Blacks in their last meeting at London Sevens last year.

Worst ever performances

Kenya’s start to the 2010/2011 season has not been one of the best in many years. They have won one out of nine pool matches since the season started, which is worst ever performance in four years.

But their performance in Wellington showed slight improvement compared to the opening legs in Dubai and George. The new players in the likes of Oscar Ouma, Andrew Amonde, who is making a return and Biko Adema, who missed the first two legs, have rose to the occasion in Wellington.

Despite the hiccup in Australia match where he was sin-binned, Sydney Ashioya and skipper Humphrey Kayange has been superb.

Physically, the team was in better condition besides creating more opportunities and ball retention, which evidently lacked in Dubai and George.

The defence had also improved as the team had more of turn overs, which were great but was not to scratch. Commitment to tackle lapsed in some occasion allowing their opponents to plough back with ease and erase their leads.

Kenya squandered half time leads against Samoa, Australia and Tonga losing 21-24, 19-21 and 10-17 respectively to drop to Bowl event at Wellington Sevens. They beat Canada 19-14 and Scotland 15-12 on reach the Bowl final.

Biko Adema stood out, ending up at second top scorer with 48 points - six tries and nine conversions.

“The team only failed to play well against Tonga in the pool stages but I am happy about the revenge victory since it showed what they can do when under pressure,” said coach Benjamin Ayimba.

“I am proud of the boys because since yesterday, they have been putting in hard work. It all begun eight weeks after the Dubai and George legs and I must say it is paying off,” said Ayimba.

New players

“It’s a good start now that we got the pressure to pile on more points in Las Vegas. I am impressed with the new players have come up to get some points, which is a good impetus for them,” explained Ayimba.

The 2010 Sevens coach of the year Mitch Ocholla noted the improvement saying “the puzzle will fit in” as time goes.

“The team’s defensive structures have been refined with the superb turn overs. The was more ball retention but getting the points was the biggest plus,” said Ocholla.