B.s Mulavi
1 May 2008
Nairobi — Kenya has been grouped in a relatively easy pool in the Edinburgh sevens scheduled for May 31 in Scotland.
This will be the last fixture of the IRB Sevens series for 2007-2008. Kenya has been pooled alongside giants Fiji, France and a new Moldova side. Kenya has beat France a couple of times, the most recent being the just concluded Adelaide leg, where they won 21-12 at the pool stages.
Moldova is a relatively smaller side, which the Sevens team has to be cautious about.
Fiji are the only team in the group that pose a serious threat to the Sevens side. Fiji struggled to beat Kenya 10-0 in the Hong Kong leg, while Kenya squandered a half time lead in Adelaide to go down 29-14 in a bruising match, which ended with Charles Kanyi sin-binned and a Fijian red carded.
A quarterfinal slot looks possible for the talented Kenyan side, which has reached five quarterfinals and a semi final spot.
The Edinburgh Sevens comes a week after the London Sevens in Twickenham between May 24 and 25. Kenya is pooled against Samoa Scotland and Russia in pool D.
The team leaves for London on May18. Coach, Benjamin Ayimba will have to contend without Captain Humphrey Khayange, who is out with an injury. Also out are Mwamba back row, Victor Opong and Peter Ocholla who sustained knee injuries in Adelaide. Another major blow to the squad is the dropping out of Innocent Simiyu, who has opted to play for the fifteens squad against Uganda in the Elgon Cup on the same day as the London sevens.
Kenya is ranked fifth in the IRB Sevens series circuit with 38 points. The other top four teams are New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Samoa.
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