It was a frustrating three days for the Kenya sevens at the fourth leg of the HSBC sevens series, as the side failed to make it to the Cup competition for the first time this season.
There was little to write home about from this leg, where the team managed an equal number of wins and losses, 3. It was over before it started as Kenya surprisingly went down to a well oiled Canada side 15-17.
The script from this match was replicated in the next two losses as the sides starved us of possession and took advantage of our lapses and mistakes on defence. The Canadians were especially accurate at the kick off restarts, though they can count their lucky stars as we failed to convert the try at the death. That mentioned we were never in this one really.
The second game saw us grind out a 21-17 result against Wales to give ourselves a fighting chance in the pool. This chance was however quick to go up in smoke as South Africa put us in the Bowl competition with a 19-7 result.
The second phase of the tournament started on a promising note, as the side put on the style against Spain in the Bowl quarter final, dismissing them 24-0. A match that saw Tony Owuor mark his debut with a try.
That win set up a meeting against Scotland in the Bowl Semi finals, the Scots were first to the try line, leading 7-0 at the break. We came back with intent, tries from Collins Injera, Billy Odhiambo and Dennis Ombachi saw us march onto the Bowl final with a 21-7 result.
The Bowl final summed up our Las Vegas campaign in all of 14 minutes, shaky in defence, blunt on attack and very unlucky. The referee didn’t help our cause either, deciding to play an offside curve for the Fijians through out the 14 minutes.
That not withstanding we brought onto ourselves most of what we got, the Fijians running rings around us with a final score of 35-0. A second place finish in the Bowl category earning us 7 points, seeing us drop to eighth on 39 points.
We still haven’t hit the heights we know we can, and it doesn’t look like we will be there tomorrow or the day after either. We seem now to prefer using the shorter side in attack and haven’t nailed the defence pattern.
Collo at sweeper didn’t have the impact we expected, but with very little of the ball in the big games not much can be concluded, in defence though he stood up. It was the first time in a while that we saw Ouma start off the bench for more than 1 match which was surprising I must say.
Up next is Wellington where we are pooled alongside Samoa, Australia and Tonga in Pool D. Another tricky looking Pool which we have a week to prepare for.
Collated Results:
Kenya 15-17 Canada
Kenya 21-17 Wales
Kenya 7-19 South Africa
Kenya 24-0 Spain
Kenya 21-7 Scotland
Kenya 0-35 Fiji
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!