Finances, not our headache, our duty is to defend the flag-Ayodi

Injured Shujaa skipper Oscar Ayodi is hopeful the team will record positive results in the upcoming Hamilton and Sydney Sevens in Australia and New Zealand respectively.

“We have to honour those two legs since it is our obligation and priority to represent our country when duty calls. Preparations have been going on smoothly and everyone is ready,” Ayodi claimed.

His sentiments come days after the Kenya Rugby Union decided to terminate the players’ contracts following the withdrawal of the union’s main sponsors.

With the conundrum, KRU is making efforts to get government support to pay salaries and allowances to save the situation.

“As a captain, I will treat that issue of players’ allowances and contracts as rumours and hearsays.  For now, I know the team will travel on Saturday and we will play at the Sydney and Hamilton sevens,” Ayodi charged betraying the dour situation at the Ngong Road based union.

According to the Shujaa skipper, their contract terms is a “non-issue”, adding that his team-mates are patriots willing to defend the emblem and the flag of their country.

“We are going out there as one family and the mood in camp for the past three weeks has been constructive and we have treated everything out there as a non-issue. Ours is just to represent our lovely country as true patriots,’’ Ayodi noted.

The strongly built forward also reiterated the need of honouring the remaining legs, urging his teammates not to be money oriented at all.

Ayodi is also excited by the return of some key players to the squad with the likes of vice-captain Oscar “Big Wheels” Ouma and Andrew Amonde expected to be in the travelling party.

He added: “We have analyzed our pool for the Sydney Sevens and I am confident the hard work we have put in the past three weeks will pay off,.Wee have changed our style of play and worked on our few mistakes and come next weekend the boys will deliver.”

Kenya is placed 11th in the series standings with 13 points after collecting 10 points in Dubai 7’s and three points in Cape Town 7’s.

Pool B Sydney Sevens

Shujaa v Argentina

Shujaa v France

Shujaa v Wales.