The squad to the 6th and 7th legs of the HSBC circuit arrived in HK on Monday Morning Kenya time checked into the Marco Polo HongKong Hotel, ready for duty.
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| The Squad..apart from the two lovely ladies, a welcome inclusion though! |
Heading into this leg, we are placed 6th on the overall log on 57 points, two behind fifth placed France and 39 points off the leaders New Zealand, we will be facing those two sides in Pool B which also includes USA. In case you forgot who the squad of 12 that will be doing duty in the less than two days, let’s jog your memory :
1. Andrew Amonde 2. Oscar Ouma 3. Horace Otieno 4. Phillip Wamae 5. Patrice Agunda 6. Mike Wanjala 7. Sydney Ashioya 8. Eden Agero 9. Biko Adema 10. William Ambaka 11. Dennis Ombachi 12. Billy Odhiambo.
Last season in Hong Kong, we won the Bowl, beating USA 14-12, this time round the Bowl wont be the return most will be hoping for.
As the teams goes through their final phases of preparation, let’s take a closer look at what to me looks like a pretty balanced 12.
Of course everyone’s concern is how we will perform without the chu chu train (Collins Injera) who has been a vital part of the squad this far. His abscence should see a lot of big sighs of relief breathed from many an opponent across the world, none louder than that of Spain’s Pedro Martins!
I will not sit here and pretend that his absence wont be felt, I don’t think anyone can. How Big M plans to fill the huge gap left is what will be under a microscope, this is where he earns his big bucks.
The direct replacement looks to be his Kulabu counter part and Dan Norton’s worst nightmare Dennis Ombachi, the hard running winger has deputized Collo in all the legs so far, it’s only natural that he steps up to the plate in the master’s absence.
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| Ombachi in Action at the Gold Coast, perhaps his best outing to date. |
The second scenario might be the direct promotion of Billy ‘Blanks’ Odhiambo, the youngster who made his debut in South Africa has wowed many in his first season. Though some might argue that it’s too early to give him this shot, and that he’s not yet the finished product. One thing is for sure, he will be the one to fill those big shoes left by Collo once the chu chu train retires. This is an oportune time to start easing him into the fray.
Another interesting point in the selection is the inclusion of Patrice Agunda for only the second time, which sees Davis Chenge being dropped for the first time in Big M’s tenure. Agunda is the complete opposite of Davis, he’s faster has a better work rate and doesn’t always look to go through his man. This an indication that maybe Big M is looking to switch up things a bit, favouring faster play in the forwards. Whether he’ll start out rightly or come in to shake up things, his addition to the forwards gives us a diversity we never really had, our only agile forward having been Phillip Wamae.
One thing that will see the scalps of the technical bench scratched thoroughly, is the selection of the sweeper. For the first time this season, we have two or maybe three out and out sweepers in vice captain Ashioya and Mike Wanjala. The two have pretty similar attributes in terms of pace, size and skill with Ashi with the slight edge over Mike in terms of experience. Mike had a solid outing in NZ and Vegas especially in defence, Ashioya has also been good in defence in the previous seasons and likes to pop up every time in attack, adding an extra dimension going forward. You’ll agree that Mike was a bit reserved going Forward, we all know what he’s capable of.
Another area that looks to bring with it a selection headache is the fly half position with the return of the Edenizer Eden Agero. Biko has been the first choice here, apart maybe from when the wizard Lavin was around in Dubai. Though we have not seen Eden a lot in the sevens fold, we know he can split open a defence at will, he can also be deployed at the sweeper role though with the two I mentioned fully fit I highly doubt that we’ll see him at 9.
As I mentioned earlier this is a very balanced side, with enough bench power to swing things our way when they are not going in that direction.
We kick off our campaign against USA on Friday at 12:50 pm, here’s the full time table:
Friday
Kenya vs USA (12:50 pm)
Saturday
Kenya vs New Zealand (8:24 am)
Kenya vs France (12:04 pm)
A very tricky pool, we have met France and NZ three times already this season, winning one against the Kiwis and two against the French. The win over New Zealand was very vital, as it should have taken us beyond the psychological barrier of them being a ‘big’ side, so expect us to be more comfortable when we meet from the start of the game.
We have had close encounters with France, winning 15-12 in the third place play off in Dubai, then beating them again 24-12 in New Zealand before they got the better of us in the Bowl Quarter Final in Vegas, 21-17. They are a side that employs almost the same tactics as we do, in Wellington we bullied them from the go in open play and at the break downs, starving them of possession, a similar approach should see us win this one.
It will be the first time we are meeting the USA this season, I’d have liked to see Collo go round Isles but I guess I’ll have to settle for Ombachi slapping his way through him, it will be more fun that way!
We’ll be looking to improve on Las Vegas and last season’s performance here, which cant be that hard to achieve. A big win against USA should see our confidence in place to face off with NZ then France. We should have enough to see us through to the Cup quarter final, then pick it up from there.
Finally belated birthday greetings to one Bernard Lucheli and the Mwanja Bros Dennis and Mike, who celebrated their birthdays yesterday..I hope you all enjoyed your day!
With that ladies and gents, get ready to cheer on the mboys at least this time round the timings are favourable and we wont have to wake up the neighbours…enjoy the rest of your week and see you when we do the Cup Semi finals preview…aaannnnnnnnddddddddd…..
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!!
