Shujaa’s victory at Safari Sevens, a good sign ahead of Olympic Games, says Amonde

Kenya Shujaa’s assistant coach Andrew Amonde believes the team still has a lot to cover despite winning the Safari 7s title at RFUEA Ground on Sunday.

Spurred on by a huge crowd that included Sports CS Ababu Namwamba and Azimio leader Raila Odinga, Shujaa were crowned champions in devastating fashion after demolishing Samurai 19-0 in the final.

Shujaa also reached the final without losing a match and it was Patrick Odongo, who scored the first try before Kevin Wekesa scored another to make it 12-0 in the second half. Odongo was the scorer of the final try, which eventually meant that they were the Safari 7s champions again.

Despite the emphatic outcome, Amonde maintained that Shujaa will need to work on a number of things as they gear up for the Olympic Games set for Paris next year.

“I think this tournament is to always expose us as much as we can, so we have exposed our boys on how we want them to play. They have come out on top in the end, they have played very well,” said the former Shujaa captain.

“This is the tournament that Kenya has always used to benchmark herself so we are seeing where we are heading. We still have a lot to prepare for and we are still looking forward to working very hard.”

Amonde added: “We used this tournament as one of the preparations for the Olympics. Playing some of the strong teams like Samurai and Uganda helped us gauge our strength and weaknesses and I am happy that we are moving towards the right direction in terms of achieving our goals and game plan.”

Uganda Cranes finished third after thrashing 2021 finalists Germany 31-5 to win bronze, Kenya Morans finished fifth after a 26-0 win over KCB while Red Wailers won the Challenge Cup after a 24-10 win over Tropic Sevens in the seventh place final playoffs.