The Kenya 7s national team head coach Innocent Simiyu has blamed the dismal returns the team had in the 2017 HSBC World 7s Series to inadequate preparations ahead of the campaign.
The team returned from the final leg, London, on Tuesday to a low-key reception, having been eliminated at the Trophy Challenge stage by Fiji and the coach said a lot needs to be done to get the team back to its best.
This season’s performance is a far cry from the impressive show the team had in 2016, going on to win the Singapore leg, then under the tutelage of Benjamin Ayimba. Overall, the team managed 63 points in 2017, 35 points less than what they registered last year.
Messed up
“We did not have the best of preparations for this campaign and there are a lot of things that we need to do both from the management side as well as from the playing unit’s part. Looking at our preseason, we did not have the best that we can say we went to the campaign ready and that messed us up,” he said.
Simiyu had set a target of 100 points in the season, that’s at least 10 points in each leg but he takes positives in what the team managed, despite falling short.
“On average we got six in each leg so that’s like 60%, which is not bad and I am happy with the effort the players put in,” he added.
The team finished 12th in the season.