Year-In-Review: How Shujaa stormed back to HSBC World Series

Kenya had never been relegated from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since their debut in 2002, and this was a new reality for a nation that over the years has shown tremendous love for rugby.

Shujaa is one of Kenya's most popular teams, and for the fans, it was difficult to imagine life without one of their most popular teams. It’s a result that reverberated across the world of rugby.

The Journey back

It was clear as the skies in the summer that Kenya had to make an instant return to the Series and so they got to work.

First off was to reconstruct the technical bench since the then head coach Damian McGrath had thrown in the towel immediately after relegation.

A decorated coach who had coached some of the best sides in the circuit in the form of Samoa, Canada, Germany and lastly Kenya had seen enough to pack his bags and leave.

Kenya Rugby Union appointed an all-local technical bench in the form of former internationals Kevin 'Bling' Wambua, Louis Kisia and Singapore 7s winning captain Andrew Opede Amonde. The trio were warmly welcomed in the national team set up and Kenyans placed their hope in the three masterminding the journey back to World Series. They went for young blood in the team, doing almost a total overhaul of the team that had tasted relegation; only Vincent Onyala, Herman Humwa and Tony Omondi remained from the squad that played the final in Twickenham.

But first, there was the urgent matter of qualifying for the Paris Olympics earlier this year. In qualifying they did in some beautiful fashion; reminding everyone across the globe all was not lost with the Shujaa pride.

Kenya outshined South Africa 17-12 in the Africa 7s final played in Harare, Zimbabwe and in that game, a new star was born in the shape of Patrick Odongo.

Here was a ridiculously speedy young winger who lit the left wing with speed and grace. He would later turn out to be the perfect weapon for the new shape Shujaa.

Kenya’s greatest sevens player Collins Injera has backed him to get even better; going by what he has showcased so far.

“He has a bright future ahead of him. He has been playing very well, he has raw speed which is good for the game of 7s. I saw him in Dubai during the challenger series and once again in the series and he has a very bright future if he continues putting in the work.”

For context, Patrick Odongo made debut for Shujaa in the world stage in Dubai during the opening leg of the Challenger series and casually scored 11 tries that helped Shujaa clinch the Dubai title. Even the commentators on duty for the World Rugby coverage were out of superlatives to describe the young man who looked like Collins Injera re-incarnate. Donning the iconic number 11 jersey and eye-catching white cleats, this was the official birth of a star.

Kenya went on to qualify for the final playoffs in Madrid and turned up they did in Madrid. Having taken care of business early on against Samoa in their opening match, Kenya suffered a scare in their second pool match after they lost 10-5 to Spain. They however got back to winning ways in a resounding form dismantling Chile 36-7 to book their ticket to the playoff finals.

In the final, Shujaa were placed against Germany; a team that had previously troubled Kenya during the second leg of the Challenger Series in their Munich backyard. But the zeal and determination of the team to gain promotion back to the “big” league sailed the team through as they dispatched Germany 33-15 to regain core status.

Building the blocks

Having successfully qualified for the World Series, attention immediately switched to preparing for the Olympics. Kenya was making her appearance in the competition for the third time in a row since Rugby was incorporated in the Olympic games schedule and Bling and his charges got down to work.

The team hadn’t won a single match in the competition and they put that right when they saw off Samoa 10-5 to finish 9th in the competition that was won by hosts France.

They are currently 9th in the World Series log and Injera has backed the team to get better with time.

“Being a team that is full of rookies, they have done very well. You could see they have an idea of how they want to play but at times nerves and lack of concentration was a hindrance. But when you play in such a league, you get experience over time.”

KRU Vice Chairman Moses Ndale says Kenya’s investment in young players will pay dividends in the coming years.

“I’m happy to see young blood coming back to Shujaa because they will give service to Shujaa for a couple of years to come. The way they played in the Olympics you could see they are hungry to play the game and it’s about time we let them express themselves on the field. It's high time we gave the young guys opportunities to play the game.”

Kenya are currently ranked 9th after two legs in Dubai and Cape Town and will return to action on 24-26 January 2024, in Perth Australia.