Nowhere to hide for Sevens team in last leg of IRB Series

By BS MULAVIThe Kenya National Rugby Sevens team hopes to finish the 2010-2011 International Rugby Board Sevens Series on a high when they play South Africa, Australia, and Canada in the final tournament of the circuit in Scotland today.Having amassed only twelve points in this year’s circuit so far, as compared to the fifty two they had garnered by the same stage last year, it is no doubt a heavy burden for the team to carry in terms of expectations from fans.The team, which has struggled to find form the whole year, has to finish the tournament by playing very tough opposition in South Africa, who are chasing third place in the overall standings and Australia who are currently sixth in the circuit with sixty points.FIND FORMThere is nowhere to hide for Head Coach Benjamin Ayimba and his troops whose only solace may be the Canadian team who linger at the bottom of the standings with 5 points with the Americans also struggling to find form this season.What was seen as Kenya’s strongest line up this season drew blanks last weekend in the penultimate leg of the tournament in London, where they lost in the Bowl finals and missed out on the four points on offer.They now have a chance to redeem their image if they can pull off just one upset against Australia or South Africa in the Pool stages and that is if they can overcome Canada in their last game.It is no longer a question of what Ayimba needs to do technically for the team to perform, but who he picks to start in the game, because the whole team has already played at that level and they know what is expected of them. If the team can just keep their mental strength and play the basics right, then they stand a real chance of playing in the Main Cup final.The team has struggled to keep possession in recent tournaments, an area they will need to seriously look into. Without the ball the team has been forced to defend for long periods, which ultimately culminate into fatigue and that is where the mistakes and lax defending starts to set in.Meanwhile, Homeboys RFC will today defend their Main Cup title in the Chairman’s Cup against Kenya Harlequin at the RFUEA Grounds. The Chairman’s Cup has been running alongside the Bamburi Rugby Super Series and even though the Super Series takes a break, the second division knock out tournament will see three finals being played with Impala facing Blak Blad in the Bowl final, Chipu facing Nakuru in the Plate final.

Nowhere to hide for Sevens team in last leg of IRB Series

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Nowhere to hide for Sevens team in last leg of IRB Series

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