By BS MULAVI

Biko Adema (with the ball) in action against South Africa during the USA Sevens IRB World Series in Las Vegas on Sunday. [PHOTO: COURTESY/IRB]

Kenya Sevens team slumped to their lowest performance ever under new coach Paul Treu in the Las Vegas leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series.

For the first time under the South African, Kenya failed to make it to the Main Cup quarterfinals after they lost two of their group games against Canada 17-15 on Saturday morning and South Africa 19-7 yesterday.

Their only victory in the group stages came on the first day when they beat Wales 21-17. This was Treu’s third tournament in charge, having also steered Kenya through the Dubai and South Africa legs of the circuit.

In Treu’s first two competitions, he was able to reach the Plate competition after his side was dismissed at the Main Cup quarterfinal level.

Ironically in both tournaments, Treu had what pundits termed as weak squad missing the likes of Oscar Ouma and Dennis Ombachi.

Whereas in the Las Vegas leg, Treu had his strongest squad to date having recalled former captain Humphrey Kayange and Kenya Harlequin backline player Patrice Agunda.

Only player out

Treu’s only missing player in Las Vegas was captain Andrew Amonde, whom many have speculated will not retain the captain’s armband under the South African’s reign as coach.

The team has struggled considerably in USA with a leaky defence line and some greasy palms when it came to ball possession.

Even in their 24-0 drubbing of Spain in the Bowl quarterfinals, Kenya made a myriad of handling errors which only went unnoticed because Spain could hardly string their own passes together. Treu will have his work cut out this week as he prepares to turn the tides in the Wellington leg in New Zealand.

“We didn’t start too well against Canada with the defeat there,” said Treu.

Kenya was able to reach the finals of the Wellington leg last season under former coach Mike Friday and expectations will be high as the teams head there for the fifth of the eight rounds of the IRB circuit.

Meanwhile Canada performed heroics to reach only their second-ever Cup semi-final in IRB Sevens rugby, joining defending USA, Sevens champions South Africa, New Zealand and Samoa in the final four.

South Africans, the most recent winners of the HSBC Sevens World Series, have conceded just seven points in their four matches so far at the Sam Boyd Stadium and beat Argentina 36-0 in their quarterfinal with tries by Cecil Afrika, Branco du Preez, Seabelo Senatla, Chris Dry (2) and Werner Kok.

“I didn’t even know we’d made one before, so that’s amazing. We are very excited. A bit scrappy out there but this is where we aspire to be every time so it’s nice to get there. All the guys train together, the guys here and those back home, but this is a great feeling right now.” said Canada’s captain John Moonlight.     

  — brian.sagala@gmail.com