“We will keep working until we get it right.” That’s the message from Kenya Sevens captain Andrew Amonde after the team finished last in the fourth round of the 2019-2020 World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney, Australia on Sunday.
In an interview after Shujaa succumbed to a 19-12 beating from Samoa in the 15th-place playoff, Amonde said, “This game we love is very cruel. You snooze and everything is gone. We have been humbled this weekend. We will keep working until we get it right.”
The 36-year-old KCB Bank RFC flanker featured in all of Shujaa’s group stage matches against eventual winners Fiji as well as Series leaders New Zealand and bottom-of-the-table Wales.
On January 31, he had predicted a tough outing for Shujaa in Sydney saying saying Kenya had a very slim chance of reaching the Cup semi-final stage. True to fact, Sydney Sevens record winners Fiji welcomed Kenya to the Australian city with a 28-12 thrashing in their Pool “A.” opener.
The Kenyans also threw away their lead against Wales as they lost 26-21 in their second match and wound up last in the group after New Zealand hit them 19-5.
Paul Feeney’s charges went into the 15th-place playoff seeking to register their first win in Sydney against Samoa, who had also lost all their group matches against France, Argentina and South Africa.
Amonde did not feature against Samoa after he suffered a knee injury at the group stage.
That disappointing outing in Sydney has pushed Kenya down one spot to 11th in the Series.
The 2016 Singapore Sevens winners have collected 26 points from the first four legs held in Dubai (four points), Cape Town (11), Hamilton (10) and Sydney (one).
The next leg is in Los Angeles in the US on February 29 to March 1.
