Focus more on points in Sydney, Ayimba tells Shujaa

Former Kenya Sevens rugby head coach Benjamin Ayimba has rallied the team to focus on collecting more points ahead of Sydney Sevens slated for this weekend in Australia.

Paul Feeney’s charges were drawn in a tough Pool A alongside Cape Town and Hamilton Sevens champions New Zealand, Series holders Fiji and bottom placed Wales, and Ayimba is confident they will collect maximum points.

“Right now is just trying TO accumulate as many points as possible. So far we’re doing quite well at position 10 so we need to gather as many points as possible, they did that last weekend and I believe they’ll do so this weekend,” explained Ayimba.

He also cautioned the Paul Feeney coached charges against lapses in concentration that proved costly against England, Japan and Argentina last weekend in New Zealand.

“There is no problem with how Shujaa is playing; it’s just lack of concentration but they’re playing well,” said the former Shujaa player.

Ayimba believes Kenya’s win against giants South Africa will be a plus for them in Australia.

“It’s definitely a plus but there is always that fatigue that comes with winning big games, so we definitely have to regroup, probably train less this week to make sure we’re fresh before this weekend,” advised Ayimba.

Ayimba added that the new format of HSBC came with criticism since it will dent the top teams but according to the organizers they did so to accumulate the ladies tournaments in every leg.

Shujaa are ranked 10th in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens log after garnering 25 points with Ayimba noting hat they should maintain a seven or eight points per leg.

“They’re on the right track, at an average of seven to eight points per tournament, that means they will end up with good points at the end of the tournament,” added Ayimba.

Ayimba led Shujaa to win their first ever main cup finals in Singapore in 2016 and believes Kenya can do so in the coming years.

“There is always that possibility once the team have gelled but it will take some time since this is an Olympic year so it will be tough this year,” he asserted.

He also urged the coaches to bring transition in the team since some top players in the Shujaa are ageing wwith skipper Andrew Amonde, Collins Injera and Willy Ambaka at 36, 33 and 29  respectively.

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Benjamin Ayimba HSBC IRB World Series Kenya Shujaa Sydney

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