Kenya get New Zealand, Ireland and Spain for sixth leg in Canada
Kenya will face Ireland again, New Zealand and Spain in the sixth leg of the World Rugby Seven Series in Vancouver, Canada, this weekend, seeking to forget their poor show in Los Angeles last week.
Shujaa, who completed the fifth leg in LA by managing just three points after finishing 14th, have a difficult group stage in Canada as they are in Pool C that comprise series leaders New Zealand, unpredictable Ireland and Spain.
Kenya’s solace will come from the fact that they beat Ireland 29-12 in one of the two wins they recorded in the US city but with the Irish on 45 points and the East Africans on 29, there is no guarantee of another win in Vancouver.
New Zealand have always proved to be a difficult nut for Kenya to crack and Spain, even though considered minnows, have surprised Shujaa in the recent past, meaning Paul Feeney’s charges will have to improve quickly if they are to have a go at the Cup quarter-final.
However, their performance in Los Angeles does not inspire confidence given that they made a number of errors that handed their opponents opportunities to hurt them.
Despite the experience in the squad, Shujaa lost 31-4 to South Africa in the group opener before that morale-boosting win over Ireland but hopes of sneaking into the last eight quickly evaporated when they were humbled 24-0 by Canada.
That saw them drop to the ninth-place quarter-final but there was no respite, Samoa handing them a 28-19 loss before they summoned some strength to down Wales 29-5 in the 13th place semi-finals.
In the final, however, Scotland edged Shujaa 29-24 in extra time to leave them with just three points from their tour of LA.
High intensity game
It is a display that brings to question Kenya’s mental strength once more. This is what was cited last season as a squad made of novices struggled to get to grips with the high intensity of the game when a number of superstars boycotted national duty over a contract dispute.
The superstars are back this campaign but the results are the same, Kenya only managing double-digit points only twice—11 in Cape Town and 10 in Hamilton—bringing to question their level of preparedness.
Kenya were last in a Cup final in Vancouver and Hong Kong in the 2017/18 season and maybe memories of such performances can inspire them to those heights once more this weekend.
