Paul Odera heaps praise on Shujaa after Dubai 7's

Kenya Simba's head coach Paul Odera on Tuesday waxed lyrical about Shujaa following their exploits in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai 7s.

Shujaa managed to secure back to back main cup quarter-finals in the two Dubai legs of the series and currently sit eighth on the standings.

Odera picked a number of positives from the two tournaments noting that there were improvements in the opening leg and second tournament where Kenya finished sixth. 

“There's progress, they are getting better, Kenyans are usually impatient with national teams and I don't think we realize the amount of work it takes to compete against other sides who have put in a great deal of investment,”

“You can see the progress from the first tournament to the second tournament, I'm always interested in how we are playing as opposed to results but of course, we were are to use our pace on the wing,” said Odera. 

Shujaa have been drafted in Pool D ahead of the maiden Malaga 7s tournament that is slated for 21 January 2022 and will face France, Wales and Canada. 

Odera added that Shujaa still needs to improve on their ball-handling skills but lauded the improvements made in tackling and explained why Kenya had to wait to the final Pool games to secure a quarter-finals place.

“Our passing skills quite raw but we were still able to combine the power that we have with some of the pace out wide but the biggest improvement was that we were able to tackle a bit better so Namcos and his coaching staff put in some work,”

“It's a Kenyan thing, we sort of feel away to the tournament then all of a sudden we wake up,” added Odera.