The wet conditions in Glasgow appeared to be too harsh for the Kenya 7s, as the team failed to register a win at the end of Day 1, for the first time this season. After re grouping, Day 2 looked much better, winning two of the three games, losing in the Bowl Final to Australia.
(Photo – irbsevens.com) |
It was not all gloom though, as the mboys got off to a promising start against eventual cup winners South Africa, narrowly losing 14-17. That game was characterized by several unforced errors, notably conceding 4 penalties from rucks. Despite those errors we stood up to the Blitz Bokke in open play, with Collins Injera marking his return with a try in the second half. Man of the tournament for us, William Ambaka getting the other in the first half.
The second and third games against Samoa and Canada ended in 0-26 and 10-21 defeats with the Samoans doing a great job of hogging the ball, the little we saw of it was wasted by errors. The Canadians on their part just defended well, this one also saw us give too much in terms of errors.
Day 2 saw saw the French meet a rejuvenated and neater Kenya side in the Bowl Quarter final, tries from Oscar Ouma and Ambaka in the first half set us up for a final score of 22-7. This set up a clash with the hosts in the Bowl Semi, this would be our third meeting this season with the two sides tied on one win each.
Felix Ayange grabbed a brace either side of Amonde’s try at 4 minutes to go into the break with a commanding 19-0 lead. Scotland would narrow that gap to twelve points after a Lee Jones try and Collin Gregor conversion. Willie Ambaka would put the match beyond doubt with a power run to take the game beyond the Scots at 24-7 with 5 minutes to play. The hosts would make a real charge in the closing minutes but it wasn’t enough as the hooter sounded with the scores at 24-19 to see the mboys progress to the Bowl Final against Australia.
Having turned the corner on Day 2 and put in two great performances, it was down to this one match to complete the turn around. Big M opted to shuffle his pack for this one, handing Phillip Wamae, Davis Chenge and Billy Odhiambo the first starts over the two days. The first half saw little in terms of scoring action, Lewis Holland giving his side a 7-0 lead at the breather.
Biko Adema would benefit from Ambaka’s hard work, going over the chalk for our only score of the game to make it 7-5. From this point, the two sides were again locked in a tight battle with no one giving up ground. We would however fold in the dying minutes, Pama Fou going over for the deciding try.
A surprising poor performance from the mboys, especially considering that we have set a trend of making it to the Cup competition in the first legs of all the tours to date. The unforced errors were our silver bullet, especially on Day 1. We however picked it up on the second day and got 8 points from Glasgow, taking us to 84 points in 5th place on the overall log.
We are still inside the 100 points target that was set, with a third place finish in London will get us to 101 points. In London we are pooled alongside newly crowned Series Champions New Zealand who we’ll be meeting for the umpteenth time this season, current world champions Wales and bogey side Canada in Pool B. It wont be easy, and if Glasgow has showed us anything it is the same thing that we have been saying the whole of this season. The fine margins that determine cup glory and win less runs over the two days, have gotten finer this year.
The mboys will have to be in crisp form to end the season with the bang they started it with, it will be a home return for Big M, I am sure he’d want to make it a memorable one. You can almost guarantee that we will meet England in this one, at some point in day 2, hoping it will be in the final. The last time a member of the technical bench was visiting his home country, we made it to a cup final. Chris Brown is from New Zealand…
Having performed exceptionally in the first of all our two leg tours this season, the tables have turned in the final one, everything points to a great showing at Twickenham.
Finally on the salaamz corner, a happy birthday to the diminutive Kenya international Peter Matricks Mutai…do enjoy mheshimiwa!!
With that ladies and gents….
Have a great week ahead aaaannnnndddddd……
KWISHA..Nimeruka Nje!!!!!