By BS Mulavi

Nairobi, Kenya: The Kenya Sevens National Rugby Team will be out to scoop the first ever Tokyo title in the International Rugby Board Sevens circuit.

This is the first time that Japan has been included in the sevens circuit and hence no team can clearly say they have advantage in the tournmament. All sides will be looking to be crowned as the first ever champions and most importantly most teams will be aiming to improve on their overall tally of points in the table standings.

Kenya is currently ranked fifth in the circuit with 72 points behind Series leaders New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and South Africa. Kenya has already reached two Main Cup semi-finals and one final this season but the overall title in any tournament seems to be eluding them.

Kenya is scheduled to play Scotland, USA and Wales in a technical group that will need them to overcome the physicality of all the group before they can try out their flair. Many pundits have criticised the team for luck of creativity and Kenya will have to prove that they are able to win a major trophy in the circuit.

Kenya is the highest ranked side in the group and the pressure will be on them to ensure they top the group and qualify for the Main Cup quarter-finals with maximum points from the group. Kenya has already beaten  all three sides previously in the circuit history but their biggest headache will be Wales.

Wales knocked out Kenya in the semi-finals last weeked and this will be Kenya’s chance to revenge the painful loss.

Head Coach Mike Friday has stuck to the team that served duty in Hong Kong, with the hopes that they can replicate their form and hopefully go a notch higher in the competition. Friday at the end of last weekend’s tournament reiterated that the team’s main focus is to perform well and to do it consistently.

Friday is currently struggling with a run of erratic results that has een Kenya perform well in one leg then dip miserably in the following leg the next weekend. Japan will be a good ground to break the streak and to get the team back into the top three.

Despite the erratic results this is the most number of points Kenya has ever had in the IRB Circuit, given that their record stood at 64 in previous years. After Japan, Kenya still has two more legs to go and hence their chances of reaching 100 points are very viable.

Fixtures

5.50am Kenya v Scotland

9.57am Kenya v USA

13.03pm Kenya v Wales