Kenya national rugby Sevens team are keen to tighten their decision-making and improve efficiency at the breakdown as they prepare for the Uruguay and Brazil legs of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series next month.
The squad resumed training on Wednesday, with head coach Kevin Wambua identifying the two areas as key to their qualification hopes for the final round.
“Our work at the breakdown has to be sharper. We came up short in the final match against the USA in that regard. We had too many players committed in the tackled area, and that leaves gaps which the opposition can exploit,” said Wambua.
On decision-making in attack, the coach pointed to missed opportunities in their narrow loss to the Americans. “We had opportunities to score tries against the USA, but the final pass was sorely lacking. We were not patient enough to keep the ball in hand for longer periods and tire the defence. We are going to polish that aspect to ensure that come the next leg, we are firing on all cylinders, especially when we get into the opposition 22,” he noted.
Shujaa are expected to head into a one-week residential camp at an undisclosed location next week, where Wambua plans to ramp up intensity and strengthen team cohesion.
“We go to camp next week to load up, raise the intensity in training and have some bonding time with the squad,” he said. In the final week before departure, the focus will shift to fine-tuning tactics.
“The final week will be lighter in terms of training. We will look at various tweaks we can implement to stay ahead of the pack while remaining competitive,” added Wambua.
Shujaa finished third in the Nairobi leg after impressive wins over Canada (29-12), Belgium (33-0), Germany (15-10 in sudden death) and Uruguay (17-7), before falling 21-5 to the United States in their final pool match.
Co-captain George Ooro described the series opener as highly competitive and remains confident the team can secure qualification despite not clinching the home title.
“There are positives we can take from the opener. Now we go back to the drawing board to sharpen ourselves for the next rounds, and I believe we can do better,” said Ooro.
