Kenya Sevens Rugby team kicks off campaign against Philippines on Friday

By BS MULAVI

 Kenya stand out as favourites as they begin their World Cup campaign against Philippines on Friday.

According to reports by IRB, the Philippines have accepted the underdog status and are honoured to take part in the showcase in Moscow at 1422hrs Kenyan time.

“It is amazing for us, representing the Philippines at a World Cup, that is an achievement in itself,” said captain Michael Letts.

“Rugby is very new in the Philippines and this will hopefully open doors and expose us a little bit more.”

“I am sure there are millions of Filipinos around the world who don’t even know we have a Rugby side, but hopefully when they see us on the TV they will get involved and if they do play Rugby hopefully they will play for us one day.”

Coached by former USA Sevens head coach Al Caravelli, the Philippines will banking on some of the knowledge they gained from training with New Zealand over the weekend.

Kenya knows what is at stake if they do not convincingly beat the Philippines at the Luzhniki Stadium. Kenya has to ensure they get a big aggregate score, which will be crucial when it comes to ranking at the end of the pool stages.

Captain Andrew Amonde had claimed that they will be taking no team for granted and will be giving every game the seriousness it deserves.

Speaking before the team left the country, Amonde explained that they are eager to compete for the main title but they will first focus on the individual games before they can even think of the Main Cup competition knockout stages.

“We have the potential to win the title, but first we have to take one game at a time, and that starts with the group stages,” he explained.

“We need to concentrate in every game and ensure we play our best in every fixture,” he added.

Beating the Philippines by a big margin will boost the Kenyans’ morale further in anticipation of their games against Zimbabwe and Samoa in the other pool matches of Pool C.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will play Samoa in the other Pool C match of the tournament.

Samoa coach Stephen Betham has expressed their excitement at the challenge ahead: “Zimbabwe will be hard to beat, they always come out well. We don’t know much about the Philippines but I’m sure they’ll put up a good fight with Al Caravelli as their coach, and Kenya’s been one of the real dark horses of the past season.

“It’s a one-off tournament, every game is a test match.”