NAIROBI, Kenya, December 23 – Former national Sevens skipper Humphrey Kayange says it will be a tall order for Kenya to automatically qualify for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Speaking Tuesday when attending his old club Mwamba RFC’s under-16 Academy launch, the veteran said the top four teams (South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia) in the HSBC Sevens World Series are strong contenders.
“Realistically the top four teams are playing very well and it will be very difficult to edge them out but we can get out of the bottom and finish in a respectable position.
“The players know what they have to do to get Kenya back to being competitive. I have faith in the new coach Felix Ochien’g because he has been with the team for a long time and understands them very well so he is in a good position to turn around the poor performance,” Kayange the older brother to the county’s all time leading try scorer, Collins Injera declared.
The veteran who is recovering from an ankle injury picked at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was concerned on the team’s poor performance in the three World Series outing that has left Shujaa lie 14th on 11 points.
“We need to up our game and start winning heading to the fourth round in Wellington 7s. Kenya is in a tricky pool against Scotland, Argentina and Samoa but if we prepare well we can finish top but we want to approach it cautiously.”
If Kenya fails to seal the automatic slot they will be forced to battle it out in the regional qualifier to make their maiden appearance in the Summer Games.
Meanwhile, Mwamba RFC boss Alvas Onguru declared the Kenya Cup club chairmen will release a statement to give direction following the wrangles that has beleaguered Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) forcing chairman Mwangi Muthee, head coach Paul Treu, directors Godwin Karuga and Maurice Masiga to resign.
“Club chairmen are in talks to weigh different options in order to mitigate the wrangles and find solution. The chairmen of the clubs asked for the audit to be done and some of the directors stopped it.
“The clubs are the owner of the game so directors must do what members ask them to do and the audit is a must,” Onguru who received financial boost and training kit for the Academy from Center for Multi Party Democracy underscored.
