Kenya Sevens look for the elusive Cup semi-final

Kenya Sevens skipper Andrew Amonde on Friday rallied his teammates to go for their second Cup semi-final qualification this season at the inaugural Singapore Sevens that begins on Saturday.

Kenya begin their campaign against minnows Russians - who upset them in America - at 5.22am.

Kenya will then meet tricky Scotland for the second time this season at 8.43am, with hopes of upholding their edge over the Scots, having beaten them 17-14 at the group stage in Sydney.

Kenya and South Africa renew their continental rivalry for the third time this season in their last encounter that is could potentially be a Pool A decider match at 12.04pm.

It’s at Vancouver Sevens, the sixth leg of the 2015/2016 World Sevens Series, where Russia stunned Kenya 24-7 in the Shield semi-finals on their way to winning the category 17-10 against Portugal in the final.

Amonde said they were determined to go one better by breaking past the Cup quarters in Singapore but warned his teammates not to underestimate any of their opponents.

Amonde said even though they have lost crucial players in Oscar Ouma, Billy Odhiambo, Dennis Ombachi and Biko Adema to injuries, some enterprising youngsters like Nelson Oyoo, Alvin Otieno and Frank Wanyama have ably stepped up.

“We are hopeful that everything will go our way as we aim do better than last weekend,” said Amonde.

“All the teams here are capable of causing upsets hence we must be cautious in everything we do and hopefully to come out the best.”

Kenya lost to England 33-0 in Plate semi-finals at Hong Kong Sevens to collect 10 points for their tally of 63 that saw them remain in eighth place in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings.

Singapore Sevens is making its debut to the now famous world sevens series. The Singapore outing is a repeat of the Sydney leg where the three teams met with South Africa and Kenya sailing through to the Cup quarters. Kenya edged out Russia and Scotland 24-10 and 17-14 but lost to Blitzbokke 19-26.

Canada so far remains Kenya’s worst outing this season, the only other time they failed to reach the Cup quarter-finals apart from Dubai Sevens where they could only manage a Bowl semis.

They reached one Cup play-off in Cape Town, one Plate final in Sydney and three Plate semi-finals in Wellington, Las Vegas and Hong Kong.

The other time Kenya met Russian this season was in Las Vegas preliminaries where they won 24-21. Africa’s best go into the match at 1-1 with Kenya having had the better of Blitzbokke at their Cape Town backyard 14-12.