Kenya rugby sevens head coach Damian McGrath believes it will be a tough test in Cape Town, South Africa during the Sevens World Cup this weekend.
Coach McGrath guided Shujaa to a sixth finish in the last round of the HSBC World Sevens Series and he is confident after performance in the pre-round of 16.
“It’ll be intense since it’s a knockout tournament which bring a lot of pressure with the teams out of top 16 going there to try and make reputations to themselves teams like Germany, Tonga and Uganda,” said McGrath.
“And there are teams such like ourselves who are pushing to make it to top eight and there are teams that are in top eight who want to retain their position so it will be tough out there,” added McGrath.
Collins Injera and Herman Humwa make a return to the squad with Bush Mwale and Daniael Taabu considered unavailable due to disciplinary issues while Alvin Atieno misses to pursue an overseas move.
According to McGrath, Injera who is Kenya’s top try scorer in the HSBC series brings in experience and leadership.
“Collins Injera coming back to us brings two things the experience and leadership but also his adaptability he can play across a number of positions and he has performed so very well.
“Many would say it’s a gamble for us but he is very important in and off the field and being a knockout stage we cannot avoid to gamble being the Sevens World Cup,” noted the coach.
Kenya kicks off the competition against Tonga on Friday at 11:23 am (EAT) and the winner of the clash will take on Argentina in the round of 16 at 5:23 pm the same day.