Kenya Sevens Rugby Team Coach Ayimba Says There Is No Pressure

Kenya Sevens rugby team coach Benjamin Ayimba insists there is no pressure on his team ahead of the final two legs of the 2015/16 HSBC Sevens World Series.

Kenya won the Singapore leg last month and many fans would expect the same show in Paris (May 13-15) and London (May 21-22).

Shujaa pulled off a stunning 30-7 upset against defending champions and series leaders Fiji in the final to lift their first ever World Series Main Cup and leapfrog England into the seventh place on the overall IRB standings. They garnered a massive 22 points in the eighth round.

But having been pooled in a tricky Pool A alongside third-placed New Zealand, Russia and Portugal in Paris, Ayimba, who has already declared a top seven finish as his main target in the Series, believes the last two legs will provide them with a perfect training ground ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio Di Janeiro in August.

“There is no pressure at all. Not necessarily targeting a top six finish, but I think where we finish in Paris and London will be a bonus for us.

“Right now, we are comfortable with number seven and barring any tragedy, we should be able to end up in sixth or seventh, depending on how other guys perform.

“So, we will be happy at number seven and achieve as many points as we can in the next two rounds,” Ayimba told Feverpitch yesterday.

“We are actually going into those two tournaments comfortable knowing we can win a trophy, but our aim is to win the Olympics.

“Since we’ve achieved all the goals we had targeted in the IRB series this season, it’s for us to do final polishing on the Olympics team and see how well we can work under no pressure. The two legs will just add onto our confidence.

“We’ve not pegged our performance on points. We might get those points in Paris, but fail to replicate that performance in London.”