Mike Friday’s men set for rough ride in Moscow showpiece

By BS Mulavi

Moscow, Russia: The Kenya Sevens national team face an uphill task as they begin their quest for the Melrose Cup in Moscow.

The team are in Pool C against Philippines, Samoa and Zimbabwe and, given the competition format, they will need to top the pool to guarantee their qualification for the Main Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.

The competition has six pools and only the top team in the pool alongside the two best placed teams from the pools will qualify for the Main cup competition.

Kenya have to score as many points as they can so that they do not get kicked out due to an inferior aggregate when the ranking is done at the end of the second day.

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Kenya start their campaign against the Philippines tomorrow and they will have to be wary of the threat posed by the underdogs. Head coach Mike Friday said before they left the country that all teams in the competition are strong and capable of causing an upset. Kenya cannot thus gamble on how to start their campaign.

Fierce rivals

This will be their only game tomorrow before they meet Zimbabwe and Samoa on Saturday. Kenya and Zimbabwe have been fierce rivals, given that apart from South Africa, Zimbabwe are the only other African nation that rival Kenya in international tournaments.

There will be no love lost between the two sides when they meet, with memories fresh of the African Sevens Cup that was played in Mombasa early this year, which Kenya went on to win at the expense of Zimbawe.

Kenya have an upper hand over Zimbawe by virtue of being a core team in the IRB Sevens circuit and hence are bound to be more experienced and prepared.

Kenya’s next match will be the top-of-the-bill of the pool against Samoa in a heated exchange likely to determine who will top the pool. Samoa were Kenya’s closest opponent in the IRB circuit, where they finished on fourth position with 104 points, just five points above fifth placed Kenya who garnered 99 points.

The battle is likely to be fierce with both teams having set their sights squarely on the top prize. Whichever team finish top of the pool is likely to get a relatively easier fixture in the quarterfinals.

The last time Kenya played in the World Cup they beat Fiji in the Main Cup quarterfinals but were unfortunate to lose to Argentina in the semi-finals.