BY BS MULAVI

The Kenyan National Sevens Rugby team emerged as the kings of Africa after an emphatic 24-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the finals of the Confederations of African Rugby 7s tournament in Mombasa.

Speaking to FeverPitch after the victory, Kenya coach Felix Ochieng praised the team, saying it was a good tournament which gave a lot of exposure to the upcoming team. “We are very excited about the win, given that the team was aiming for the number one spot,” he said.

“The boys knew that there was a lot of competition for places in the last two legs of the International Rugby Board Sevens circuit and the Sevens Rugby World Cup and they really stepped it up a notch,” he said.

“We have noted five players who we think can join the national squad and we will identify them as soon as I speak to the head coach Mike Friday,” he added.

CORRECT MISTAKES

“We saw our mistakes on our first day and we worked hard to try and correct them,” said Ochieng, “Infact our main aim on the second day was to try and ensure we had as little mistakes as possible and then play it out from there,” he added.

“This has been a good tournament where we have seen teams like Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Morrocco make good account of themselves,” he noted. “They have played exceptionally well and we always knew it was not going to be easy,” he said.

ACHIEVE BETTER

Meanwhile Zimbabwe coach Gilbert Nyamutsama rued the loss saying they hoped to achieve better. “We always have a good time when we come to Kenya, we enjoyed the tournament and we really hoped we could have won it,” he said.

“CAR needs to be holding more tournaments of this magnitude so that we can get more competition in African countries which would help us to grow,” he said. “The standards in the competition were very high and that is what is needed for the growth of the sport,” he added.

“Zimbabwe has been practicing for a long time to reach the levels they are in and us reaching the final is actually a culmination of a lot of the work that has been put in by the squad,” he said.

This was the first time that Africa has held a competition of such magnitude and Kenya will be glad to be a pioneer in such an initiative which puts them on the map as the most powerful Sevens team in the continent with the exception of South Africa who CAR are aiming to lure into the initiative.