Showdown as Kenya face Samoa on Friday

By BS Mulavi

The Kenya National Sevens team kicks off their Hong Kong campaign on Friday against Las Vegas Champions Samoa in the ongoing International Rugby Board Sevens circuit.

Both teams have been preparing for a massive showpiece and according to former captain Humphrey Kayange, the side is up for the challenge, "We’re looking at just stepping up from where we left in Las Vegas," added Kayange.

"In Wellington, we won the Bowl and in Las Vegas, we won the Plate. A semi-final would be very good for us, but if not, just qualifying for the quarters and the Plate should be where we need to compete effectively."

Samoa’s head coach Stephen Betham is cautious in his approach and has indicated they will be taking the game very seriously.

"We have England, Kenya and Argentina in our pool and they were all quarter-finalists in Vegas so you have to take every game as test match this weekend.

"We have to do the work first but we would love to grab Hong Kong this year and it would set up a great finish."

The Hong Kong tournament is not only the sixth round of the HSBC Sevens World Series, it is also doubling as a ‘core team’ qualifying event for the 2012/2013 World Series.

While the current 12 ‘core teams’ – Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Kenya, New Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA and Wales – compete in pools A, B and C for the famous Hong Kong title, 12 other nations will start in Pools D, E and F and battle it out for three additional core team berths to compete on each round of next year’s Series.

This means two 12-team competitions will take place side by side.