Kenya target better performance at rugby World Series in 2018 season

By John Kwoba

NAIROBI, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Kenya eye to improve on the 100 point mark in this year's International Rugby Board (IRB) World Series which resumes later this month.

Kenya center player Oscar Ayodi believes with right coordination and team work, the country will be able to surpass the 2013 mark, where Kenya finished fourth with 99 points under Englishman Mike Friday.

"It's not too ambitious to target 100 points for this season. We have set that mark before, but failed to attain it. But if we ticked the right boxes in training and in team coordination, we have the potential to surpass it. With the training that we have had, we will achieve those 100 points this season," Ayodi said in Nairobi on Monday.

Kenya finished in position 12 last season with 63 points. This year, after two rounds of competition in Dubai and Cape Town, Kenya are in position 11 with 13 points with giants New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, England and Argentina dominating the standing.

This year, the World Series resumes with the Sydney Sevens, which is the third of ten rounds. New Zealand currently lead the standings on 41 points after reaching the cup final at the season opening Dubai Sevens before winning last month' s second leg in Cape Town.

Kenya are placed 11th on the log after reaching the cup quarterfinal in Dubai and finishing 13th overall in Cape Town.

Kenya will be eyeing better prospects in the Sevens World Series campaign when the third round takes place in Sydney, Australia on Jan 26-28.

"We are doing well in training. We are looking forward to a good performance since the team has been conditioned well under the new Strength and Conditioning coach," added Ayodi.

Kenya will also compete at April's Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in April as well as at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, USA in July 20-22.

Kenya's women side, The Lionesses, will seek to become a core side on the 2018-19 Women's Sevens World Series when they play at the qualifying tournament on April 4-5 in Hong Kong, China.

They will also be in action days later at the Commonwealth Games before playing at the Women's Africa Cup Sevens at a yet to be confirmed venue in May.

The national 15s side, Simba, will play in the 2018 Rugby Africa Gold Cup which doubles up as the African qualifier for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The winners of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup in 2018 will go to RWC 2019 as Africa 1 and play New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and the Repechage Winner in Pool B. Enditem