Shujaa co-captains refuse to get carried away after stellar day one performance at Safari Sevens

Photo credit || Jonah Onyango

RUGBY Shujaa co-captains refuse to get carried away after stellar day one performance at Safari Sevens

Mark Kinyanjui 09:30 - 19.11.2023

Shujaa brushed aside South Africa All Stars, Uganda and Tropic 7s on day one of the Safari Sevens, but both Onyala and Omondi insist the side are looking at the bigger picture.

Shujaa Sevens co-captains Vincent Onyala and Tony Omondi insist that the side is looking at the bigger picture which is the Challenger Series after the side coasted to three easy wins on the opening day of the 2023 Safaris Sevens Tournament in Nairobi.

The Kenya 7s brushed aside South Africa All Stars, Uganda, and Tropic 7s, which now leaves them with one game to play before they get to the semi-finals of the tournament which will end on Sunday evening.

Speaking after their 33-7 win over Tropic, both captains praised the efforts their teammates showed in the first three games of the group stages.

“Definitely, it is a good build-up, day one. When you win your three games, it means that you have a better seeding at the semis or quarters,” Onyala said.

“Most definitely, it's about looking at the bigger picture that is the challenger series, where we need to work our way towards qualifying back for the World Sevens Series.”

Omondi believes that the energy that the young players have brought to the team under Kevin Wambua’s guidance will be “good” for the team as a collective.

He also noted that the skills and the conditioning of the players have improved a ton over the three games the side has played thus far.

“The energy, the efforts these young boys have I think leading up to the challenger series, that is good for us.

We have been concentrating  mostly on the skills part with the conditioning part coming up at the end of every session.”

Onyala however insists that no team will be easy to face on Sunday, but opined that the tournament was about building experience game by game ahead of the Dubai invitational in December.

“Everyone that comes into a tournament puts their best foot forward so, I would not say tougher opponents.

For us, it is about taking it a game at a time, building on each experience that we get. 

Different opponents get different experiences, and that is where we capitalise and build on.”

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