Kenya Sevens rugby team players (SHUJAA) urged to repeat their superb Las Vegas leg preliminary display

Lewis Ormond of New Zealand (left) tries to get past Augustine Lugonzo during second day of the USA Sevens Rugby tournament match at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 5, 2016. [PHOTO: AFP]

Kenya Sevens rugby team head coach Benjamin Ayimba has urged his players to repeat their superb Las Vegas leg preliminary display in this weekend’s sixth leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, in Vancouver, Canada.

Shujaa produced one of their best performances this year by winning all their Group A matches which included a 22-0 thrashing of fancied New Zealand in a table-topper encounter, their first win against All Blacks in three years. This was after they had defeated Russia (24-21) and Portugal (38-0) on the first day of the tournament.

But from the high of beating the All Blacks, Kenya went to the low of crashing out of the Main Cup after falling 26-14 to the USA and then lost 19-14 to Japan in the Plate semi-final.

Kenya have been drawn with familiar opponents in their Pool A of the inaugural Vancouver Sevens. They will face defending champions and current Series leaders Fiji, Samoa and Portugal whom they have all met in less than a year.

As Shujaa, who are currently eighth on the IRB Series standings with 52 points, prepare to take on Portugal tonight (9.36 pm) in their opening match, Ayimba has called for more consistency from his side.

“It is important for us to qualify for the quarters and then the rest will follow. We had a game plan against New Zealand in Las Vegas which the boys executed perfectly. I hope we will maintain the same fighting spirit and commitment in Vancouver,” said Ayimba. “It is a tough group, but we need to keep on improving and be consistent in the knock out stages,” he said.