BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, Jul 31 – Shujaa head Coach Damian McGrath says Kenya 7s team is building for Paris Olympics after coming short at medalling in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Speaking after the quarter final match exit to New Zealand, McGrath said the players gave it their best shot but lost to a better team.
“For six weeks’ work, Coach Kimani and I have just been talking, it wasn’t a very bad effort. We ran out of steam in the end. We had a physical game this morning and a physical first half. But tries, either side in the first half, just took the game away from us.”
McGrath also conceded defeat after all and admitted it’s one of those days when things don’t work as planned.
“They threw their bodies on the line, but just lost to a better side. I mean, we are building towards the Olympics, so this is a good effort.”
“We’ve come a long way in a short time and we’ll be better again in Los Angeles when the World Series resumes and we expect to be in the quarter finals on a regular basis.”
McGrath said game management will be key adding that Shujaa are working to approach different situations.
“I think you saw a different outfit this weekend to what you saw a few weeks ago and I believe it’s the right change in attitude of mind.”
-Oyoo-
Shujaa skipper Oyoo was left to rue their quarterfinal exit saying: “We came aiming for the medal but unfortunately, we ran out of our target. But now we will pick it up from tomorrow. We have a few positions to fight for.”
Asked where Shujaa went wrong, Oyoo went on: “I think we started off well and at some point we lost our structure, and we felt shot somewhere in the breakdowns, so for now we know where we are.”
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Birmingham, United Kingdom-
