Friday lauds the rise of the Kenyans

Dubai: Kenya coach Mike Friday has hailed new-found conditioning and direction as the keys to the African minnows best ever start to a Sevens World Series.

The Shujaa, which means “courage” in Swahili, finished fourth in round one of the 2012/13 campaign at Australia’s Gold Coast last month and have carried that form into round two in Dubai.

On Saturday, they won both their Pool A matches, beating Scotland 12-5 and overcoming Spain 10-7.

Englishman Friday, aged 40, took charge of the Kenyan sevens squad in only August, but has witnessed a stunning transformation from the team that finished 12th last season.

In an exclusive chat with Gulf News, Friday said of the turnaround: “I’d love to say it’s rocket science, but it’s not.

“Boys are boys and if boys have boundaries, direction and focus, they are generally positive beings.

“They’ve got direction now and they understand what we’re trying to do and how to play the game. It’s like a jigsaw; if they see the full picture they can find a solution.

Friday, who is on a two-year contract, added: “That’s one aspect and the other is conditioning. The potential has always been there with natural athleticism, as their physical well-being is immense. But if you add build, direction and focus, the potential is massive.

“Their training age is only 0-2 years, whereas New Zealand and England are 6-7 years. We’ve got to play catch-up and that will take another 12-18 months, but we’ve already seen huge gains.”

In reference to how his players’ sleeker physiques better suit sevens to the 15-man game, Friday added: “The massive technical part of scrum, line-out and back three positioning is taken out of the game with sevens.

“That allows natural ability and athleticism of Kenyans to come to the forefront.

“It’s taken teams like Argentina 20 years to get where they are now [in the 15-man game]. Kenya don’t have the type of players to compete in these positions. Evolution is required and it will take time.

“But in reality, sevens allows us to compete on the world stage and we are more than capable of becoming real contenders.

“There’s been whirlwind acceleration but over and above where we finish, the real aim is consistency. With that we’ll ultimately win more than we lose.

“If I can leave them in a better place than where I found them, with longevity and structures to build upon, with native coaches, then they’ll maximise their potential as a rugby-playing nation.”