Kenya at the USA Sevens
The Kenya
crowd was by far the most vibrant. Props
to all Mashada forummers and Kenya exiles especially all the girlz that showed
up. The Kenya cheering section got some rave reviews. Everyone said it was the
best cheering section they had ever seen. In fact many fans from SA, NZ, USA etc
came in to join the Kenya cheering squad. And they were singing with psyche. We
really livened up the place. If they do invite Kenya next time, it will be
because of the fans. The only people who resented us were those goofy pacific
islander women. Maybe they were mad becoz we stole their thunder. Even the
public address system kept referring to us to turn up the volume.
The Kenya crowd were in sensational form, showing the rest how to cheer a rugby game.
Gamewize,
Kenya were fast asleep on day 1. Against Fiji they seemed to capitulate from the
beginning. Fiji muscled them out of possesion, out-hussled them in kickoffs and
easily cleared them in racks. Kenya really need to learn to be more aggressive
in winning ball possesion. Sudi with his big body would be useful in clearing
opponnents in brakedown situations.
Oscar Osir and Benjamin Ayimba pursue a Fijian. Kenya were too tentative against Fiji.
Argentina
game was the most maddenning. They simply kept possession away from Kenya and
again they were winning all the 50-50 balls Result; Kenya had no possesion and
did not even come withing shouting distance of the Argentina try line. Other
teams use a tactic in kickoffs where
they tap the ball towards a teammate rather than receive it. Kenya ought to try
using this. We lost all our kickoffs.
Argentina did an excellent job of denying Kenya possesion, despite there slight size.
Chile game
was the most dissapointing. The boys seemed to think they would walk over Chile
and conceeded to quick & easy tries. By the time they woke up it was too
late. This after all is a 14 minute game. Kenya were badly lacking in confidence
in this game. Simiyu , Sudi even Oscar were not adventerous enough. On occassion
I saw Sudi & Simiyu isolated on
the wing with one Chilean to beat. He would switch on the jets then stop halfway
and turn back looking for support. Somebody should tell these guys that if you
have one man covering you on the wing and you have some space, you must take him
on. Kenyans are faster than Chileans for petes sake. Take off and if he covers
you, unleash a sidestep. Its all confidence wasee. Meanwhile when the guy takes
off, the next guy needs to run in support in order to receive the ball on the
tackle. Support play was another area where Kenya was sorely lacking.
Kenya
finally woke up on day 2. I fikad stadi at 10:00 am and there was no one on the Kenya section. I was like
where the hell is everyone ? The Kenya crowd was sparse during the Korea game.
They played better although the Koreans were tough and wily. Koreans have very
good support play
By the the
Tonga game, the Kenya cheering section was once again in full vibe and even the
Wazunguz were chanting Elawaya with a lot of psyche. This was the best game from
a defensive standpoint. Manzee kenya completely bottled those Tongans. That Huge
Tongan was wrestled down each time he tried to leta mechezo.
I could see the confidence levels were up especially with Mwanja, Lucas
& Oskar. we really put them under pressure. One of the tries resulted from
the pressure. Either Benedict or Mwanja intercepted the ball soccer style and
dribbled it into the try line. Lucas scored a spectacular kick and chase try.
Then Benja bulldozed right through a hapless Tonga player. The pacific islanders
in the crowd were speechless ! and Tonga never knew what hit them.
Finally
against Australia the Kenya crowd was now in full song. Again we conceeded 2
early tries but the guys came back bravely. On offense this was Kenya 's best
game. The 50 yard runs that we have come to expect from Kenya were there live.
Both Oscar and Lucas dialed those
long distance tries. Again its all confidence. If you believe you can sidestep
your opponent then beat him for speed, you will. With 3 mins left Kenya were two
tries down. But they came back storming with 2 tries. Kenya were desperately
unlucky in this game. Mwanja chased a Lucas grubber kick and missed the
touchdown by inches as the ball rolled out of play.
Finally we got a try then Newton missed that last conversion and it was a heartbreaker.
As Kenya
came to bid farewell, the Kenya section yet again burst into rapturous applause.
The players waved at fans and shook a few hands.
Kenya players acknowledge cheers from the crowd.
Summary;
Kenya scored tries out of individual players efforts. I can’t say this is a
well-coached team. They badly need to work on some aspects such as creating
overlaps, support play, gaining possesion in kickoffs and rucks, keeping
possesion. And the younger players need to be encouraged to be more adventerous.
Know when to run and when to wait for support. And for heavens sake, use your
pace. We need more kick and chase plays. In the Australia game for example
whenever there was a kick and chase over a long distance, we easily out run
them.
But more
than anything else Kenya need consistency. People say Bill is a good motivator
but I don’t see it. Sometimes Kenya come into the field and play with no
psyche at all, only to try playing catchup in the 2nd half.
Interesting
stat: Kenya recorded 28 tackles against Australia, the highest in any
game.(source ; rugby.com)
We need to
do something about those uniforms bana. There are people out there who would
gladly buy a Kenya jersey. I am talking about
all these Wazunguz who were joining us in singing “tero buru “. We
need a well designed jersey preferably from a known brand name like Adidas, with
an emblem that identifies us as Kenya. I can safely say Kenya’s uniform was
the worst on display. The Fiji one is very cool.
Me I want a Kenya jersey that I can floss around with and show people
that I support team Kenya.
Tournament
wise manzee Argentina deserve it. Their tackling is phenomenal. Text book
tackles a la De wet Barry. They are very good at maintaining possesion and use
this to make up for their lack of pace. Good for them. We really could learn
from Argentina. I dont think they have a preofessional league. KRFU should study
what Argentina is doing and see if we can copy them.
Kenya players leave the field after the last game to a rapturous applause from the Kenya section and more.
The Home
depot center is all that. But
attendance was poor. That stadi was only half full. I never realized that LA has
so many pacific islanders. And they all showed up wit their entire familes. I
guess the game means a lot to them. And those Samoans have some serious obesity
issues. Manzee every Samoan is as big as a tank. Kwani what to these guys eat ?
The choice
of a sponsor was a little surprising. Team roc ? I guess thats why they were
playing rapp music throughout. Kwani where are companies like Western Union,
Verizon or GM.