Kenya Sevens head coach Innocent Simiyu faces his first litmus test today when the HSBC Dubai Sevens kicks off.
Simiyu, who was appointed in October, faces a baptism of fire when Kenyans take on France at 8am.
The match will be followed thereafter by tie against Japan at 11am and final match against Australia at 5:22pm in Pool ‘D’.
It has been less than ideal build-up for the squad with players boycotting training last week over unpaid bonuses. However, the matter was settled after the Ministry of Sports intervened and paid Sh13 million with Kenya Rugby Union committing to pay a further eight million to the disgruntled players.
All eyes will be on the pitch, where Simiyu has been set a target of 100 points for the season with 10 points for every leg.
Vice captain and World Sevens series top try scorer Collins Injera and star forward Oscar Ouma will miss the two opening legs as they are not at par with in terms of conditioning with the rest of the squad.
Shujaa played at the Safland Sevens in Namibia, losing to South Africa 31-10 in the final last month. It doesn’t get any easier with tricky tie against France in the opening match.
The French were a bogey team of sorts for Kenya last season. Les Blues won 28-26 in Cape Town last year, 33-7 in Dubai, 24-21 in Vancouver, Canada in March and won 24-5 over Shujaa in Paris.
Kenya’s sole win came in Singapore, where registered 28-7 victory.
Kenya will have to keep an eye on play-maker and skipper Terry Bouhraoua alongside Julien Candelon and Stephen Parez.
Kenya will be wary of the threat posed by Japan after they stunned them 31-7 at the Rio Olympics. Kenya had earlier also lost to the Japanese 19-14 in Las Vegas and their only win against the Asians came in Dubai, where they won 17-12. Kenya’s record against Australia is poor from last season having lost 14-12 in Dubai, 17-12 in Sydney and 26-7 in Paris.
Simiyu is expected to hand debuts to Kabras play-maker Brian Tanga and KCB utility back Darwin Mukidza. Kenya’s best ever performance in Dubai came in 2012 when they reached the semi-finals under the tutelage of Mike Friday.
Order of play—8am: Kenya vs France; 8:22: Australia vs Japan; 8:44: USA vs Scotland; 9:06: South Africa vs Uganda; 9:30: Argentina vs Wales; 9:52: Fiji vs Canada; 10:14: England vs Samoa; 10:36: New Zealand vs Russia; 11am: Kenya vs Japan; 11:22: Australia v France; 11:44: USA vs Uganda; 12:06pm: South Africa vs Scotland; 1:14: Argentina vs Canada; 1:36: Fiji vs Wales; 1:58: England vs Russia; 2:20: New Zealand vs Samoa; 5pm: France vs Japan; 5:22: Australia vs Kenya; 5:44: Scotland vs Uganda; 6:06: South Africa vs USA; 6:31: Wales vs Canada; 6:53: Fiji vs Argentina; 7:15: Samoa vs Russia; 7:37: New Zealand vs England.