Dubai: It doesn't matter when or where or how, but when a century is reached, celebrations follow. And Ben Ryan hopes to celebrate his landmark 100th game as England coach with victory over Kenya: the toughest of their Pool E opponents in this weekend's Rugby World Cup Sevens.
England starts their World Cup campaign against Hong Kong on Thursday, followed by two back-to-back games against African sides Tunisia and Kenya on Friday.
Ryan's side went down to South Africa at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens in November, and he wants his men to crush the Kenyans and provide the spark that will help him celebrate in style.
Kenya are easily one of the most improved teams in the abbreviated form of the game, and Ryan said: "We've got a good record going into this tournament as we're currently the joint top-ranked side in the world alongside South Africa. So I couldn't have hoped to have the side in a better shape going into such a big event.
"Some of my men will be playing their 50th or 60th game for England during the World Cup, which is perfect. Friday will be my 100th game in charge of England, so I will be looking forward to that and all in all everyone seems pretty confident and the guys are just looking forward to playing."
Ryan warned opponents his side is injury-free and ready to fire on all cylinders, but added England have the utmost respect for each of the teams in the competition.
"We're as competitive as can be and lucky that none of our front-liners have had any injuries over the last six months. We've been fit and we've got continuity coming here.
"The Wellington and San Diego Sevens were good, the only negative there was dealing with the jet lag and the guys were really tired last week. But fitness tests have shown that everybody is fine now," Ryan added.
"This is the World Cup and with that comes a kind of commitment from all the sides. First up on Thursday night we play Hong Kong, who we know are well-organised, and then we have Tunisia who are very physical. Kenya will probably be our toughest opponents in the pool because they've got some real spark. "England won the 15s World Cup in 2003 and in 1993 we won the first sevens tournament, so there's clearly been a lack of global silverware coming into the country and we want to take home something this weekend."
