PARIS, France, Jul 24 – The national Sevens team will be looking to improve on playing consistently for 15 minutes after starting off well in the first half, but deep in the last seven minutes in their two Pool B Matches they have played at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Shujaa, comprising of young players, who are making their Olympics debut, managed to give world series champions Argentina a run for their money in the first half, leading 7-5 before going down 31-12.
Against Australia in their second Pool B match, Kenya just trailed by a try (7-14) but coming to the last half, Shujaa could not hold on their agility eventually losing 21-7.
Co-captain Tony Omondi was the best player in the game against Wallabies for the coach Kevin Wambua charges, scoring a try and hand his side 7 points.
In the opening match, Kevin Wekesa and Chrisant Ojwang went over with Omondi adding the extras in one of the tries.
Speaking to Capital Sport after the second match, Wambua opted to pick on the positives that he will work on, patting that back of his boys as they look to improve ahead of the HSBC Sevens World Series comeback.
“We need to make sure that we play consistently for 14 minutes. We had this game, only a turn over cost us and 50/50 calls. We need to know how to finish off but the boys are young, will be there with time for me it’s just to encourage them,” Coach Wambua said.
“We have improved a lot, our defence can only get better. We are good as you have seen we can force errors and hold the ball for two minutes, so we pick positives and work on our mistakes.”
Following two Group stage loses to Argentina and Australia, Shujaa tactician Kevin Wamba is determined to make amends by coming back stronger and even better against Samoa on Thursday.
Coach Wambua candidly admitted they had the Australia match but blamed their quagmire to the turn over and 50-50 chances.
Wambua revealed that that next objective for the boys will be to make sure they play consistently for 14 minutes, adding: “it is just picking up the lessons, motivating the boys, and seeing where the journey takes us.
He continued: “For us, I think it’s important to continue playing these high-level games to pick up our lessons and keep on improving. We actually thought we were fit, but at this level, the stakes are high. I’m still happy that we can go head-to-head with some of the best teams. I take pride and motivate the boys, knowing that both games we were in it until the last two minutes when the script went bad,” Wambua explained of the two loses to Argentina and Australia.
–Samoa Game Plan-
Asked he hopes to approach the next match against Samoa, Wambua emphasized: “It is just the same process again. We will just have a look at the same attack and defence frameworks, see what worked for us, and continue to enforce that and see where we went wrong and see before we play tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Coach Wambua believes that there are a lot of positives after seeing those who have featuring prominently in the World Cup and multiple seasons at the HSBC 7s Series.
He continued: “Look at our squad. Three quarters of the team are first-time Olympians. That shows the potential of the team, so we need to encourage them and continue demanding more from them.”
Wambua is grateful to the fans who have been supporting Shujaa and giving the that extra push.
“We are happy that we are going to play the same teams we will play series and that gives us a standard to make sure that we compete consistently in 14 minutes; those are the major takeaways from the first two matches,” Wambua said.
The coach is nevertheless happy that the boys have built confidence in that, knowing that Shujaa are coming from a Challenger Series with three-quarter of rookies in the side.
He continued: “Yes, we wanted to perform, and we have played well and competed against the big boys, and we were just not able to finish our games well, and that’s something we can easily work on. For us, we continue, but I’m a bit gutted for the boys, so far, we haven’t gotten a win but it’s just upon us to make sure we are in the right frame of mind to ensure that we keep pushing:”
Wambua noted that they’ll will have a video session and do a review of the team’s performances and also do a preview of the opposition so that tomorrow they are good to go again.
“I believe they’ll learn, grow and experience and become better how to approach certain scenarios of the game so for me it’s all about motivating and encouraging them,” said in finality.
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Paris, France-
