Aim at consistency, not Main Cup, Ayimba tells Shujaa

Former Shujaa head coach Benjamin Ayimba says that Paul ‘Pau’Murunga charges should focus on maintaining their current form instead of eyeing the Main Cup quarter-finals in their next outing – the Vancouver Sevens in Canada.

Kenya is set to face Samoa, Fiji and Canada in Pool ‘B’ this weekend in Canada and Ayimba is optimistic of a better performance from a side he believes is steadily improving.

“Even if we don’t get in the quarter finals for now there won’t be pressure and shouldn’t be any because you can’t set targets that you can’t achieve.

“At the moment what is important is to reach the quarterfinals of the Challenge Trophy or win it, this will help the team avoid relegation in the HSBC World Series,”he advised.

Shujaa lost 24-14 to Canada in the Sydney Sevens last month and 38-7 against Fiji late last year at the Cape Town Sevens and Ayimba believes a lot has changed for Shujaa since then, and is predicting an entertaining encounter in Canada.

Kenya hasn’t played Samoa this season, meeting them last term in the Hamilton Sevens where the Kenyans narrowly won 19-14.

Shujaa won their two matches in Las Vegas against semi finalists Argentina and Japan and the former Shujaa player believes they can build on this.

“You never know… the boys can wake up charged and win against heavy weights and qualify for the main cup quarter finals as they did against Argentina in Las Vegas.”

Ayimba also believes that the win against Argentina gave the players motivation maintaining that accruing five points from the leg is better than what they achieved in Sydney where they just bagged a point.

The former Shujaa coach is also adamant that the return of play maker Johnstone Olindi will boost Murunga’s charges with the teenager being the top scorer with 64 points, best tackler (30),  clean breaks (10, tied with Leonard Mugaisi) and has made the most runs at 57.

With KCB’s Vincent Onyala leading the try board with 15 tries, Olindi comes in second with 10 having played in all the first four legs – Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney and Hamilton Sevens.

Shujaa remain at position 13 with 17 points in the 18-team log.