Paul Treu has his work cut out ahead of IRB Series

Kenya Sevens coach Paul Treu has his work cut out ahead of the Gold Coast Sevens due October 11-12 in Australia after his teams’ average performance in this year’s Safaricom Safari Sevens.

Speaking to Daily Nation Sport, Treu said he will have to refine his team’s line-out and penalty systems if they are to compete effectively against the best at the IRB World Sevens Series.

“There are still a lot of things we have to work on in a couple of days,” Treu said.

Shujaa lost 21-29 to Western Province from South Africa, while Kenya Simba Saba bowed out of contention in the mani Cup after losing 12-19 to Welsh Warriors in the quarter-finals.

The two teams met in the Plate semi-final where Shujaa won 17-14.

Kenya’s other team, Morans, dropped to Bowl category where they beat Golden Lions from South Africa in the quarter-finals before losing to Germany 10-28 in the semi-finals.

“We didn’t cover our line-outs well, a thing that top teams like New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and England have perfected,” True said.

“These teams rarely play in their own half so we have to keep the ball and win the line-outs.”

Treu lavished praise on Brian Wandera and Oliver Mangeni, saying they have the potential to win balls and compete effectively with the best in the world. Treu said that the team will work on penalty set-ups and emphasised the need to control the pace of the game.

“We don’t need to keep on kicking the ball all the time,” he said. Treu noted that his scrums were fairly Okay, with a solid defence though he also pointed out that there are some gaps that need to be fixed.

USE EVERY OPPORTUNITY

The coach said he knew things would be tough going into the tournament, adding that his sides lost not because they were poor but that they made many mistakes.

“The positive thing is that Safari Sevens gave the technical bench an opportunity to assess the young players,” Treu said, adding that it won’t be an easy ride in Gold Coast.

“We didn’t know where to start going into the Safari Sevens after the changes (senior players axed) we made but things have been Okay.”

Kenya face South Africa, Samoa and American Samoa in Pool B at Gold Coast. Treu is expected to name his travelling squad on Wednesday.

The team will leave for Gold Coast on September 6. “We want to be ready for the first match against American Samoa. We will use every opportunity to minimise mistakes,” said Treu.

On the senior players who were axed from the squad over contractual disagreements, medical cover among other things, Treu said the door was not completely closed.

“No player will be excluded since Kenya Sevens belongs to the people and everyone should be given a chance.

“There are issues we need to resolve and we shall keep working on them. We want to create the right culture in rugby to know where we stand as a team and as country,” said Treu. Kenya finished seventh with 84 points during the 2013/2014 IRB World Sevens Series.