Shujaa won't be relegated, says head coach McGrath

Shujaa head coach Damian McGrath has expressed confidence in turning around the fortunes of the national rugby sevens team and avoiding relegation from the World Rugby series after poor performances in back to back tournaments in Toulouse and London.

McGrath, while acknowledging the tough schedule ahead for the national side, has promised to end the season on a high in the Los Angeles tournament.

“We are near relegation but I’m confident in the last leg in Los Angeles we will turn things around by that time. It’s a tough schedule in the next twelve months too, there is no window to get the fitness levels so we need to start straight away and hit the ground running and try to improve as we go along. As I said, it won’t be a quick fix but it will be a fix and I’m confident.”  McGrath assessed.

The Briton who took charge of Shujaa days before the start of the Toulese sevens tournament has had a tough start to his Shujaa reign and will hope that a mix of experience and youth in the side will help bring about the desired results.

He has noted there is need for skill improvements and cutting back on individual errors so as to restore Shujaa to their former glory days.

“Well it was an interesting two weeks; it opened my eyes to a few things off the field and on field. Off the field we just need to change a few things discipline-wise, things that we can improve.

“As a staff we sat and disclosed things we can do to help the players and on the field everything I mentioned before we left, we let ourselves down, the skill levels caused issues and I said to the players losing is one thing because every team loses eventually, but losing because of your own mistakes is a real stab in the heart.”

Shujaa are pooled with Samoa, Scotland and England in the final tournament of the season in Los Angeles, USA.

McGrath will have few days to instill discipline and his style of play before the last leg of the season, as he now turns his focus to preparing the team for the upcoming commonwealth games in July.