S. OchiengSimiyu delighted with Shujaa’s progress
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 12.05.21. | 16:23
Shujaa finished in second place after losing 31-7 to hosts South Africa in the placemement final
The Kenya national sevens rugby head coach, Innocent Namcos Simiyu is confident that the team is hitting the right keys ahead of this year's Tokyo Olympic Games. Shujaa reached the finals of the Stellenbosch Solidarity Camp taking place in South Africa giving Namcos the confidence as the troubled Olympics approach.
Kenya lost to hosts South Africa 31-7 in the placement final at the ongoing Rugby Afrique Solidarity camp but, despite the loss, Simiyu lauded the significant Improvement in Shujaa’s style of play.
“We have a slight improvement in our tackle completion and we also have improvement in our set piece reception which were the key areas we were targeting. Our ball movement has also improved. It is just an issue of how do we apply it at a higher intensity and to ensure that we keep scoring more team tries. Apart from that we are happy with how the team is progressing towards the Tokyo Olympics,” he said in an interview.
Highlights of the @Blitzboks 31-7 win over @KenyaSevens in the final ranking match of the Sevens Solidarity Camp superbly hosted by @sas_hp . The teams will be at it again from Friday with another two days of scheduled matches also featuring @RugbyCranes & @zimsevens pic.twitter.com/PnILNw5nWo
— Rugby Afrique (@RugbyAfrique) May 9, 2021
In the five matches that Kenya played before the final placement match against the strong South African side, Simiyu’s men picked four out of five wins with the Springboks first team proving to be the only tough nut to crack in the first tournament of the scheduled double header tournament.
Shujaa were off to a flier in their opening match at the Rugby Africa Solidarity 7s, whitewashing Zimbabwe 24-0 on Saturday, May 8 before suffering their first defeat to South Africa (1) 27-14 in the subsequent game. Shujaa then bounced back from that defeat with a 19-12 win over South Africa (2) in the last game of day one.
In the second day where two games were played, Shujaa thumped the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport (SAS) 26-0 before staging a spirited 24-7 comeback against neighbours Uganda to set up the final placement clash against South Africa (1) which they lost 31-7.
FT scores#Shujaa 24 - @RugbyCranes 7#SolidarityCamp pic.twitter.com/hWMz0U6jij
— Shujaa (@KenyaSevens) May 9, 2021
Kenya, who have already booked a ticket to the postponed Olympic Games slated for 23 July to 8 August 2021, is using the games as preparation for the global sporting event.
Tournament 1 Results
Day One
8th May 2021
Shujaa 24 – 0 Zimbabwe
SA (1) 27 – 14 Shujaa
Shujaa 19 – 12 SA (2)
Day Two
9th May 2021
Shujaa 26 – 0 SAS
Uganda 7 – 24 Shujaa
Final
SA (1) 31 – 7 Shujaa
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