A spirited Shujaa wrapped up the first day of the second Emirates Invitational 7s tournament unbeaten to finish top of the tournament’s Blue Pool.
On their way to the top finish, the Innocent Simiyu charges kicked off the day with a 28-10 victory over the Uganda Rugby Cranes before backing it up with a second victory over Canada in this training camp beating them 21-10. Their last pool match was a tassel as Spain were not going down fighting, they cornered Shujaa in almost every facet of the sport until Alvin Otieno landed the match winning try.
Shujaa landed a total of ten tries and conceded six in the three matches.
“It was a good day one, boys played well and managed to make the right decisions at critical moments of the game. We still have a few errors we needs to clean on set piece ball. We however have improved a lot on our defense and breakdown. Scoring counter attack tries is always a bonus for the team,” said Simiyu
Notably, the team has improved from Madrid as they are now able to cope with rush defenses better.
“There’s a very big difference in our performance these past two days considering the fact that the competition is stiffer compared to Madrid7s.Personally, I wouldn’t say that I’m back at my 100%fit form but I’m gradually getting there and these training camps are playing a huge role in the process,” said Alvin Otieno.
He added that the team’s performance today was superb and he’s extremely proud of his teammates. “We’re now more cautious with our penalties compared to last weekend and that is definitely a step in the right direction,” he concluded.
They will kick off their day two action against Chile in the fourth cup quarterfinal at 10:12am EAT and the match will be live here:https://youtu.be/9aRMrfgEjxc
Philadelphia Commends her teammates on notable improvements
The Lionesses Captain Philadelphia Olando commended her squad on the improvements seen in the first day of this second week of the training. Despite the three losses on the day, she noted that the ladies defense pattern is headed in the right direction. “Our game structures are working,if you look at the Canada match, there’s a lot of improvement in our execution and the fighting spirit throughout the 14 minutes was admirable,” she said.
Janet Okello attacks the French defense line in the second match on 8th April at The Sevens Stadium.
The Ladies lost two of their day one matches to Canada, France going down 5-22 and 31-5 respectively before drawing 10-10 with Japan.
On Friday 9th April, they will wrap up their round robin action as they face Brazil at 8:22am followed by the USA at 2:36pm.
