The Kenya Sevens Rugby team is back in the Country with focus now shifting to Hong Kong IRB series as the national side continues with their resurgence.

Kenya managed to pick 18 points in Wellington and Las Vegas series and head coach Felix Ochieng says he is happy with the progress they are making.

“I think the players have shown a lot of character in the last two legs in terms of progressing in the things that they do, yes we made some mistakes but when we got it right we actually succeeded in the things that we were doing” Said Ochieng.

The road to recovery will not be a walk in the Park for the national side and Ochieng maintains a lot needs to be done before heading to Hong and Japan. The national team is set to welcome back Humphrey Khayange, Biko Adema and Augustine Lugonzo who missed the last legs due to injuries.

The team will now take a ten week break before resuming training and the head coach is looking forward to improving key areas including defence which was one area of concern during the Vegas series.

“The more we train together, the better we become; defence is about understanding each other’s strength and weaknesses, we are looking forward to working with structures that everybody understands their roles and responsibilities, and I think that’s the most important thing” He added.

In Hong Kong Kenya will face England, Wales and United States which is managed by former coach Mike Friday and Ochieng is relishing the challenge ahead of them.

“It’s an exciting pool for the fans but obviously a very challenging pool because any of those teams can go through to the main cup and any of those teams can drop to the Bowl., so we have to go there really switched on” Ochieng said.

Kenya is currently placed in 12th place in the IRB rankings after picking twenty nine points and the head coach remains confident they will end the season on high.

“The more we train, the more we can raise our physical presence, our levels of speed and endurance and as the season goes on we become better, there are players that started playing in January, so for them, the better they play” He said.

His remarks were echoed by his captain Andrew Amonde who believes the teams can only get better as we head to the final four legs of the season.

Amonde believes signs of improvement in the team are as a result of the players working hard as a team after series of poor results in Gold Coast, Port Elizabeth and Dubai. Amonde was also full of praise to the experienced players who out did themselves in the two legs and in particular Lavin Asego.

‘Lavin is a big asset to this team, he knows what he can do, having him back in the team is a huge boost to us and we hope to have him in Hong Kong” He said.

Amonde is certain Shujaa will post even much better results in Hong Kong and they are ready to take on any team.

“As a team I think we are ready, very ready to play anyone because we have been in the circuit and we have played some of those teams even when we were at our worst, we are a much improved team now” He added.

Amonde further added they are determined to improved their rankings insisting they are not happy their current position.

“We are still going back to the drawing board and correct some mistakes, we are not going to get tired until we achieve what we want as a team” He concluded.

Photo Credit : Kenya Sevens