NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 3 – Kenya Sevens skipper Andrew Amonde is confident the side will have an improved performance during the Sidney leg of the World Rugby Sevens series this weekend despite being placed in a tough group.
The team which picked eight points from Wellington last weekend after winning the Challenge Trophy have been pooled with Wellington champions South Africa, England and Japan, but Amonde believes they can do just enough to make it to the Main Cup quarters.
“It is a very tough pool because all those teams there are strong. However, I am very confident we have what it takes to win all matches and make it to the Cup quarters,” Amonde told Capital Sport from Sidney.
In Wellington, Kenya only won one match in the group, a 47-5 mauling of minnows Papua New Guinea. They lost 31-12 against England, a side they meet again in Sidney and 17-12 against Argentina.
The skipper though is confident they have picked up lessons from their mistakes and will do better in Australia.
“We didn’t start well on day one in Wellington and that is what cost us. We had so many mistakes and didn’t get the smooth flow of our game plan. We however managed to correct a bit on day two and had a better performance.”
“We have looked at what things we did wrong and in the past week we have worked to correct them. As a team I believe we are capable of raising the standards and do better,” the captain affirmed.
Enroute to winning the Challenge Trophy last weekend, Kenya won all its game on day two beating Russia 24-5 in the quarters, USA 19-12 in the semis and Australia 19-17 in the final.
The team remained stagnated at 10th place with 25 points but an improved performance in Sidney can take them as high as 6th on the log.
Last year, Kenya reached the plate final after losing 28-12 to Fiji in the Main Cup quarters. They failed to pick the silverware after losing 24-0 to Argentina.
They had finished second in the pools, their only loss in the group being a 26-19 result against South Africa.