Ojee rallies Shujaa to finish powerfully, avoid relegation

Kenya Rugby Sevens skipper Jacob Ojee says they will take each game at a time to get maximum points with relegation staring at them, in the HSBC World Sevens Series penultimate round – the London Sevens this weekend.

Coming back to the team after missing the Asian tour due to academic commitments, the KCB winger is optimistic that Shujaa will perform better than in Wales and Japan with the aforementioned three teams in the relegation battle.

Shujaa is currently ranked 13th with 26 points, just a point above Wales (25points) and four above Japan (22 points) who occupy the last and relegation slot.

“Will take each game at a time, try to grind out results and get maximum points because we’re in a very tight position at the bottom of the table trying to fight not to be relegated from the circuit.”

Paul ‘Pau’ Murunga’s men are in Pool B and will kick off their tour on Saturday against Fiji at 12:36pm, before playing their second match against Samoa at 3:20pm and wrap up their day one action at 6:26pm against France and the former Cardinal Otunga player believes no group is simple.

“There is no easy group in the series, so you don’t get to pick and choose your opponents you just need to step up to the challenge.”

He added, “It’s been a hard season for the boys but in every tough situation we’ve managed to grind out some good results, some not so good and for the young boys who are coming through the ranks are really trying to promise and the exposure is really good for their experience and I’m sure we will step up again and get good results in London.”

Ojee is positive that Shujaa can make it to the main cup quarters which will be their first this season.

“If you’re planning to get the best results you need to be wiry and take each game as important as the other one, so we will get there play the first game get the results then the second one and the quarterfinals and the latter stages of the tournament will just turn out nicely.”

He is also adamant that the inclusion of the experienced players will help the team get better results.

“The transition was not so good even when some of the senior players come in for the last legs, we didn’t train much together; just two or three sessions but now we’ve managed to put in a number of sessions among the team; with the senior players we’ve jelled better the period we’ve been training before the tournament and I’m very sure it will be a good mixture for the team.”

Shujaa landed in London on Tuesday morning ready to take some final touches training ahead of their weekend assignments.

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Shujaa Paul ‘Pau’ Murunga Jacob Ojee Kenya Rugby Sevens

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