'Vintage' Kenya head to London
Wed, 19 May 2010 10:36
Under-pressure Kenyan coach Benjamin Ayimba has named a largely unchanged 12-man squad for the London and Edinburgh legs of the IRB Sevens World Series.
No doubt feeling the pressure that he has been under for what has been considered to be less than desirable performances in the last three legs of the circuit, Ayimba and his technical team must feel relieved to have a few stalwarts fit and the squad has a distinct vintage tint to it.
Experience will clearly not be a problem .
The return to form and fitness of Victor Sudi and Dennis Mwanja has seen them pushed back into the team to plug the hole left by the injury to Victor Opong.
Ayimba has also recalled Dennis Muhanji who made his debut in Adelaide and pulled Leon Adongo from the shelf to try and beef up the squad which will no doubt want to overcome the absence of two seasoned campaigners impact player Sydney Ashioya and Allan Onyango due to work commitments.
Speaking to the KRU after naming his side at the RFUEA Grounds, Ayimba said: "We head into these two legs 18 points behind our set target. We have landed some tough pools but we will be out to compete for maximum points in both legs."
Kenya are on 52 points and lies seventh overall just behind the Springboks and will no doubt be looking for a strong finish.
It would also be hard to ignore the sub plot at play.
Ayimba has recently come under pressure from the local media who seemed have sensed that the team had reached a plateau phase and needed an injection of fresh blood. Ayimba has come out strongly in defence of his selection and has boldly implied that his core group is miles ahead of the up and coming group.
Many newspaper columnists have and seasoned pundits have rushed to Ayimba's defence, bluntly stating that it would be logically impossible to find a new set of players who can compete internationally.
With this in mind, Ayimba has retained his usual band of suspects the Kayange brothers, Innocent Simiyu, Gibson Weru, Biko Adema, Horace Otieno and Lavin Asego.
Kenya: Humphrey Kayange (captain), Victor Sudi, Bryan Nyikuli, Gibson Weru, Lavin Asego, Innocent Simiyu, Collins Injera, Biko Adema, Horace Otieno, Leon Adongo, Dennis Mwanja, Dennis Muhanji.
By Dave Oundu
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