Andrew Amonde issues rallying call for Kenya 7s in London

Kenya Sevens skipper Andrew Amonde has urged his team mates to finish the 2015/2016 World Rugby Sevens Series season on a high with victory in the last leg in London this weekend.

Kenya open their campaign at London’s Twickenham arena on Saturday against Portugal at 11.52am before taking on Scotland at 2.58pm. They will wrap up their Pool ‘C’ matches with France at 6.04pm.

France, who beat Kenya 24-5 in Main Cup quarter-finals of Paris Sevens, could be the main challengers for Kenya in the pool, although Scotland and Portugal can pull surprises.

France have a better record (4-1) against Kenya in their five meetings this season. They first met in the Bowl semi-finals in Dubai where France won 33-7 before winning the Cup play-off 28-26 in Cape Town.

France again won their Bowl quarterfinal match 24-12 at the Canada Sevens but Kenya exacted revenge on France, winning 28-7 in Main Cup quarter-finals of Singapore Sevens on their way to beating Fiji 30-7 in the Cup final.

But France would halt coach Benjamin Ayimba’s charge to a second Cup victory, winning 24-5 at the Paris Sevens Cup quarter-finals. Against Portugal, Kenya have a clean sheet from their four outings this season, having won 29-14 in the pool stage of Paris Sevens. The teams had initially met in the preliminaries in Wellington, Las Vegas and Canada where Kenya prevailed 26-5, 38-0 and 43-5 respectively.

Kenya have played Scotland once this season, with Ayimba’s charges winning 17-14 in the pool stage at Sydney Sevens.

“What I can say is that the opposition in London is average but we are focusing on what we can do as a team,” said Amonde.

Amonde said the 2015/2016 will go down as Kenya’s most successful season.

“Our focus has been great and the effort put in by everyone has really paid off,” Amonde said. “We have won a tournament but we remain focused on winning another. We are going for the Main Cup in London.”

Of interest in Kenya team will be speedster Collins Injera who is three tries away from equalling Briton Ben Collings’ all-time target of 230 tries in the series. Injera was the talk of the Series at the same tournament last year when he scored his 200th try.

Having touched down for his 200th score, Injera whipped out a pen and then headed for the nearest TV camera. Unknown to the cameraman, Injera was soon signing his lens, worth reportedly up to US$ 85,000. Injera became an immediate Internet sensation, with the YouTube clip on World Rugby at 400,000 views alone.

Will he go top as the all-time highest try scorer in London? Only time will tell even as Injera downplayed the impeding historic moment.  “I am not really focusing that but on how to end the season on a high, having set the benchmark in Singapore Sevens,” said Injera.

Kenya goes into the final leg placed seventh with 95 points, having reached the main Cup in seven out of nine legs. There best show was in Singapore where they won for the first time after finishing fourth in South Africa and winning Plate in Australia.

SATURDAY FIXTURES

Kenya v Portugal - 11.52am

Kenya v Scotland - 2.58pm

Kenya v France - 6.04pm