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Felix Ayange has explained why his Kabras Sugar charges threw away their advantage at the season-ending Kabeberi Sevens to hand KCB the crown.
Kabras Sugar Sevens coach Felix Ayange believes lack of experience in the latter stages cost them the National Sevens Circuit title after coming close to ending their six-year wait before losing the crown to KCB in the final leg.
The Sugar Millers headed to the season-ending Kabeberi Sevens with 92 points, one ahead of KCB, and needed to finish ahead of the Bankers in the knockout stages to claim a first national title in six years.
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09:00 - 11.09.2023
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The legendary former Shujaa skipper masterminded KCB’s fruitful National Circuit campaign by delivering the Kabeberi sevens title on Sunday.
All seemed well at the group stage where they topped the lot but lost 12-5 to Menengai Oilers in the quarter-final and with KCB beating Mwamba 29-7 in the other last eight meeting to advance to the semis, the Sugar Millers relinquished their advantage to return to Kakamega empty-handed from a season that promised so much.
“Planning ahead is something I like doing because Rome was not built in a day,” Ayange told Pulse Sports.
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14:30 - 10.09.2023
RUGBY KCB win 2023 National Sevens Circuit title after closest challengers Kabras Sugar lose ‘Rai derby’ at Kabeberi
KCB are the 2023 winners of the National Sevens Circuit title after advancing to the cup semis while main rivals Kabras failed to make it past the quarters
“Looking at where we were last season and where we are this season is a 100 percent improvement. We were not supposed to be among the title contenders which means we did well this season.
“We had to chop and change a lot of things to see if we could manage to challenge. We had many faces who had not played a sevens match before. I can say we had less experience compared to some of our rivals.
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18:21 - 19.08.2023
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Kenya Sevens will hope to win all pool matches to top their group and land a favourable opponent in the cup quarter-final.
“Experience is something you have to gain then we also had injuries to deal with while trying to build the know-how but we punched above our weight.”
It was a heartbreaking end to the tournament for Kabras who looked formidable in the first four rounds, reaching the cup final on three occasions, while winning the Driftwood and Prinsloo Sevens.
However, they looked vulnerable in the penultimate leg, the Tisap Sevens in Eldoret when they also exited at the quarter-final.
Kabras seem to have been affected by the absence of some of their top players such as flyhalf Jone Kubu, who missed the last two legs due to an 11-match suspension, although Ayange has shrugged off suggestions that they missed the Fiji-born player.
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16:26 - 14.08.2023
RUGBY Blow for Kabras Sugar as influential Jone Kubu is handed 11-match suspension
This means that Kubu could only be involved in one more match this season.
“We have won games without Kubu so it is not a matter of one individual. It is a team sport and things like these happen. There are injuries and suspension but we don’t depend on one person,” he added.
Besides Kubu, Kabras also did not have experienced players such as William Muhanji, Kevin Wekesa, Brian Tanga and Lamech Ambetsa in the final legs of the season but their coach is delighted by the youngsters in the squad for handling the assignment well.
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12:06 - 18.08.2023
RUGBY Kenya Sevens' Dennis Abukuse rubbishes South Africa's threat ahead of Olympic qualifiers
Abukuse believes Shujaa have what it takes to beat South Africa at the upcoming Rugby Africa 7s.
“What impressed me most is the adaptability of the boys because playing for Kabras is not easy. There is a lot of pressure from many quarters, including the sponsors,” said the former Kenya Sevens player.
Kabras finished the season in second place with 104 points, nine behind circuit champions KCB, who won the Kabeberi Sevens, adding onto wins at Dala and Christie.
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