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Kenya: National Team Go Hunting in Hong Kong 7s
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The Nation (Nairobi)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
The Punter
Nairobi
The Kenya national seven-a-side rugby players begin their chase for more glory Friday as the Hong Kong Sevens kicks off the fifth tournament of the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series.
Kenya, which is sponsored by Virgin Atlantic Airways, is the top seed in Pool F and plays China from 11.52 am (Kenyan time) in the second match of the day before tackling Portugal (8.04 am) and Scotland (12.28 pm) Saturday.
The winners in the six pools and the best two teams qualify for the main cup quarter final and a crack at Sh6 million prize money ($100,000) for the winners.
The players arrived in Hong Kong on Monday. The team's biggest task will be to win the first match and maintain the momentum gained in the first four tournaments. The team manager Oscar Osir said they will adjust to the weather and how other teams play.
Debutant George Mbaye acknowledged it was a great honour to break in the team. The Mwamba backrow made it through sheer hard work. "I always wanted to play for the Sevens team and this is a good opportunity to get a feel of topflight competition," he said during a break in the training session at Brookhouse School last week.
He impressed during the Impala Floodlits and the Bamburi Rugby Super Series where he was named man of the match in the tie against Buffaloes.
Simiyu, one of the senior players said the team has a winning feeling. "We have been polishing up and planning on game execution. This is a bunch of good and experienced players who are committed to the cause," Simiyu said.
He was happy to have some of the experienced players back. 'It is good to have Nyikuli and Lavin Asego back in the team," he noted. According to Simiyu, Kenya is expected to beat all none core teams (those that don't play in all the IRB tournaments) and half of the core teams to remain competitive. The core teams are New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Scotland, Wales
Team captain, Humphrey Kayange admitted the players selected for the tour were eyeing a quarter final place in the main cup. "We want to finish top of the pool after two days of play because a loss will mean we are out," he explained.
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Top of the pool
Kayange added the team could only get better. "Lavin will inject some freshness in the team and we have a good chance of picking more points because the players are quite experienced. There is no doubt we will aim to finish top of the pool after two days which means beating China, Portugal and Scotland," he said.
Kenyans will have a chance to watch the acton from Hong Kong today from 11.15 am on SuperSport 1 and from 5.15 am tomorrow. On Sunday, SuperSport will screen the event from 4.30 am.
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