Shujaa keen to make amends in Cape Town

SAFARI SEVENS Kenya Shujaa's Daniel Taabu tacles Daniel Bock of Namibia 7s at RFUEA Grounds during Safari 7s. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

National Sevens team eyes improved show after Dubai failure

After a disappointing outing in Dubai, National Sevens team will be keen to make amends when the second round of the 2018-19 HSBC World Sevens Series gets underway in Cape Town today.

Paul Murunga’s charges had a tournament to forget last weekend, when they lost all matches to pick a solitary point, a perfomance which the team’s seasoned winger Leonard Mugaisi attributes to immaturity within the playing unit.

“That served as a wake up call and I think It was a good learning experience for the team especially the newcomers. By now, they already know what to expect at  the world stage,” Mugaisi told Standard Sports.

As a result of the below-par perfomance in Dubai, Shujaa was seeded last for the Cape Town event, consequently landing in a tough pool, at least on paper.

The side has been drawn alongside Dubai Sevens Bronze medallists England as well as fifth place finishers Fiji and France.

“It’s all about self belief. If we can just put aside last weekend’s performance and battle as a team, I don’t think we can fail to progress to the quarter finals as group winners,” Mugaisi said.

The Kenyans are set to renew their rivalry with Fiji whom they lost to with a 42-12 scoreline in the preliminaries of the Dubai leg. They will also come up against the French side that rallied to beat them at the same tournament.

“There is definitely pressure on our part as players and we know our fans have a lot of expectations. Things might get tough but all we need is belief,” Mugaisi said.

Kenya will be seeking to better their performance in Cape Town last year when they amassed a paltry three points after failing to go past the group stage to eventually edge out Uganda in the 13th place play-off.

Meanwhile, Shujaa camp in Cape Town has been boosted by the arrival of Homeboyz’ Cyprian Kuto and Vincent Onyalla of Kenya Commercial Bank.

The duo have linked up with the team as a replacement for Jeffrey Oluoch who is back in the country to attend to personal issues.

With nine rounds to go, Shujaa is ranked bottom on the 16-team table, a position they jointly hold with rivals Zimbabwe.