If I had put it to you or any other straight thinking rugby fan, that at the end of the 2011-12 season, the Kenya sevens would be 5th at the end of the very next season, having played in 5 cup semi-finals and one cup final. You would have probably dismissed my sentiments as overly optimistic maybe even mad.
Well this is where we are, from a place where winning the plate trophy was an incredible return to now, where losing to the world’s greatest team is a huge disappointment. To a point where not making it to the cup competition is an unimaginable situation, to a point where we absolutely dominate a Fiji side that we have never beat in the circuit. I’ll give you a moment to reflect on that….
At the London Marriot sevens, the boys had come to complete what had been the best season in the country’s history. Having already amassed 84 points, they were 16 points off their target of 100 points, only a 3rd place finish or better would see them hit that target. They came into London from a disappointing two legs in Japan and Scotland where they had failed to make it to the Cup competition.
The squad to the Marriot sevens featured one notable change from the one that did duty a week ago in Glasgow, inspirational forward and former captain Humphrey Kayange coming in for Phillip Wamae who was struggling with a shin injury.
Day 1
A clearly charged Kenya side began their campaign by dismissing the world champions Wales 31-19 in a game that we dominated in all facets of play. It was a great start and win against a side that had caused us multiple problems before. With a possibility of three sides progressing to the cup quarter finals we needed to get in as many points as possible.
The second game saw us meet our favourite side, the all blacks, taking full advantage of a yellow card to David Raikuna and take a 17-0 lead in the first half courtesy of tries from Andrew Amonde, Oscar Ouma and Collins Injera with a Biko Adema conversion. We had dominated the black shirts in that half, even in the break down where they usually do us a good one. Was this going to be Wellington all over again? We did not like the answer we got to that question, as we capitulated in the second half with the blacks putting in 31 unanswered points to win. That loss shed light on some frailties that had not shown in that first one, concentration for one, and our silver bullet, rucks.
Those issues were quickly sorted out as we bounced back to dismiss the Canadians 38-12, with a brace from Kayange and book a spot in the cup quarter finals. Day one saw major improvements in our play compared to Glasgow, our kick off retention was better in fact the best I had seen all season. Our set pieces were neater, we conceded very few penalties from set pieces. Handling errors were almost unseen on the first day.
We were set to meet Fiji in the second Cup quarter final, with the other quarter finalists being, the hosts, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina and for the third time running the USA.
Kenya 31-19 Wales
Kenya 17-31 New Zealand
Kenya 38-12 Canada
Day 2
We had never beaten Fiji in the circuit before, our only win against the lanky islanders came in our fairy tale run in the world cup. It never looked anything of the sort over the 14 minutes, again our set pieces were on point. We were bullying the Fijians all over the park, 4 turn over balls from rucks in the first half, one of those resulting in a William Ambaka try adding on to the one by Oscar Ouma to take a 10-0 lead at the break.
At this point, most had their doubts, I mean we had been in the same situation against NZ on day 1, remember. This was our chance to show that we had learned from that loss, and take it we did. Keeping the ball greatly in that half, picking up from where we left it in the first half, keeping our defensive shape when we did not have the rubber in hand. Another try by Ouma and one by Tall taking the score to 20-0. It was described by some as the most complete performance by the side this season. We gave them absolutely nothing, well apart from the try at the death cause we are good guys like that and besides it’s Fiji, we respect them..hehe. 20-7 the final score.
This set up a rematch against those guys, the all blacks in the cup semi final. With a benchmark already set against Fiji and the memories of Wellington we were ready. The other quarter finals saw England beat South Africa to set up a clash against Australia who had seen off the US of A.
The match started off with both sides exercising a great amount of caution, with the boys in red seeing more of the possession and looking the most likely to score. The tense half though, ended scoreless. The second half was not any different with the series champions defending resolutely then taking their only clear cut chance to score the only try of the game and win it 7-0. Another loss to the all blacks, this one though the most painful, we had them right there, but we just couldn’t turn possession into points. A definite improvement from the first game, we kept our concentration over the 14 minutes in this one and taken the game to them, actually dominating all through.
That loss meant that we would end the season without a cup title to our name after having several close shaves. We still had one task to complete, meeting that 100 point mark, to do this we had to finish 3rd.
Our opponents, in the 3rd place play off, the same side that we kicked off the season against and one side we were guaranteed to meet, the oddly Kitted England side who had lost to Australia in the other semi.
Big M kept the faith with the same side that had started the first two games, with Kayange, Ouma and Amonde playing in the forwards. Ayange at sweeper, Biko, Injera and Ambaka filling up the slots in the backs.
We started off in great style, a favourable bounce from the kick off saw Ambaka pick up the ball and dart to the line for his first of three, Biko converting. The hosts though would quickly get back into the game scoring through Dan Norton and Christian Lewis-Pratt to take a 12-7 lead at the break. We were winning the physical battle in this match, causing the white shirts all kinds of problems in the set piece and with ball in hand. But unfortunately it was the same case as we saw in the semi final, a failure to capitalise on possession.
The second half saw the hosts grab two quick converted tries after catching us on the back foot off suspect penalties to take a 26-7 lead. Ambaka getting his second before Mat Turner saw yellow for throwing away the ball with three minutes to play, this was our chance. Ambaka completed his hat trick to narrow that gap to 7 points. Unfortunately time had run out and we had to settle for fourth in a game that could have gone our way on another day.
Kenya 20-7 Fiji
Kenya 0-7 New Zealand
Kenya 26-19 England
Finishing fourth means we end the season on 99 points, just 1 point short. Disappointed? Not by a mile, instead I am one proud Kenyan. The squad has come a long way under Big M and the technical bench, it could have been better , but instead of crying over missed opportunities let’s take them as lessons as we build for the world cup and the next season. It was our first season under the new dispensation, surely we are allowed that much, besides what is 99 rounded off to the nearest 10?
That ends our most successful season since we started playing in the sevens circuit, now that we have seen what we can achieve using just the basics it’s time to turn it up a notch. Let’s see the return of the flair that Kenya is known for, a second dimension to this side. The greatest complaint made about this team has to be their predictability, and one dimension play, making it easy for sides to close us down. The second would be consistency, this time we started off poorly in the first leg in Glasgow then picking it up in London. Which was contrary to the norm, it’s like we have switched roles with the South Africans.
The Cherry on our cake was seeing William Ambaka named in the 2012-13 dream team, a deserving accolade for the youngster who has had a great season. Ouma made it to the tournament’s dream side..our most consistent player over the whole season in my book. I will have to mention one Felix Ayange here, though he has played in only the last two legs, he has been absolutely phenomenal.
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| Ayange in Action against NZ. |
He has blended in and taken over the sweeper role, his presence in attack has given us an extra outlet something different for the defence to deal with. He can definitely improve in defence but overall he has been immense in these two legs. Then there’s this mbaba Tall, he was the difference between the performances, he was brought in to change things, and change things he did. We looked very stable in the forwards with him in there.
Tentatively, the season is not done, with Russia coming up in June, expect a complete review then, for now we can be proud of the mboys as they get in and prepare for the World cup.
With that ladies and gentlemen, have a productive week ahead….aaaaaannnnnndddddddddd…..
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!!!
