Kenya Sevens rises after Cape Town show
Kenya rugby sevens players celebrate during their match of the Dubai leg of World Sevens Series on December 4, 2015. Kenya collected 10 points to scale one place to position eight in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings after their Plate semi-final performance in Wellington on Sunday. PHOTO | MARWAN NAAMANI | AFP
What you need to know:
The team’s strong charge in South Africa ended in a fourth-place finish after a pulsating 26-28 defeat at the hands of France.
Kenya Sevens collected 15 points from Cape Town Sevens to scale two places to ninth with a total 20 points after the second leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series at the weekend.
The team’s strong charge in South Africa ended in a fourth-place finish after a pulsating 26-28 defeat at the hands of France.
The outing was however marked by great improvement from the previous leg of Dubai, where they lost to the Frenchmen 7-33 in the Bowl semis to emerge with five points.
Following their most impressive display, Kenya have now been seeded fourth to highlight Pool ‘D’ of the third leg of the Series in Wellington, New Zealand, due January 30-31.
At Wellington, Kenya Sevens will be eyeing revenge against Australia, who beat them in the pool stages of the Dubai Sevens, as well as Canada, who stunned New Zealand in Cape Town, and Portugal.
In Cape Town, Australia lost to Fiji 19-38 in the Plate semis as Canada bowed out 14-21 to England in the Bowl semis and Portugal lost 5-38 to Russia in the Shield semis.
Benjamin Ayimba’s boys were a completely different outfit from the side that took part in Dubai.
They superbly turned the tables on the Pool ‘B’ bigwigs — forcing England to a 19-19 draw before stunning hosts and eventual champions South Africa 14-12.
They would then tear Zimbabwe apart 36-0 to top the pool.
“It felt great beating South Africa, especially in their backyard,” Kenya Sevens skipper Collins Injera said.
That would set up a quarter-final clash between two coaches who took Kenya Sevens to the semi-finals of the past two Rugby World Cup Sevens, 2009 Dubai and 2013 Moscow — Ayimba and Mike Friday.
But it’s Ayimba who reigned supreme against Friday’s USA, winning 26-10 to reach their first Cup semis since 2013.
Injera and Willy Ambaka, who scored a brace of tries each against USA, would earn selection to the Cape Town Sevens Dream Team for their displays over the two days.
“The journey has just begun… thanks to God and the team,” said Ambaka.
Injera, who scored five tries to take his World Rugby Series tally to 209, and Oscar Ouma were also ranked in the top seven in the Cape Town Sevens performance tracker.
Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) chairman Richard Omwela, said the team’s improved performance clearly showed the capacity and depth that Kenya has.
“They played well against South Africa and USA but we should have won England, Argentina and France,” Omwela said. “We need to interrogate why we give out our leads in the last two minutes, at a time when we should kill the game.”
