- Paul Odera has pinpointed several weaknesses that Shujaa have shown in the HSBC SVNS World Series.
- The team finished 12th in the 2025 Vancouver Sevens.
The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) Director of Rugby Paul Odera has explained the main reasons why the men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, is currently struggling in the HSBC SVNS Series 2025.
According to Odera, Shujaa have two weak areas that continue to let them down in the high-profile tournament.
The former Kenya 15s head coach, who has also served as the Kenya U20 coach, identified attack and defense as the areas that the national 7s team needs to improve on going forward.
“I think there are quite a number of areas but I will just focus on two areas, one on attack and defense. I think on attack we need to improve the accuracy of our passing, because any time we have not passed the ball well, it slows us down on attack.
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The second thing that we also need to do is that we are very one-dimensional at times and direct, which has been effective in the tournaments before. But as we saw, many teams have worked out how to negate that,” he said in an interview with CGTN.
Odera further stated that Shujaa can cause teams a lot of trouble if they enhance their tackle completion rate.
“On defence, an area that is really costing us is our tackle completion rate, how successful we are in our tackles.
Our numbers at the moment is perhaps between 50-60%, so if we can get that up then I think we will be able to improve our performances,” Odera noted.
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Shujaa had a tournament to forget in the Vancouver 7s that took place in Canada between February 21 and February 23, finishing 12th in the process.
The Kevin Wambua-coached side lost all their matches in the heavily contested event that was staged at BC Place.
Shujaa were hammered 24-0 by Argentina in their opening match before being beaten 33-7 by the 2024 Paris Olympic Games champions France.
Although they showed a lot of resilience in the last Pool A fixture, the team ended up losing 28-10 to Great Britain and in the process decreased their chances of finishing inside the top eight positions by the end of the season.
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After Vancouver Sevens’ disappointment, Shujaa’s focus now shifts to the Hong Kong 7s where they have to register excellent performances in order to avoid playing in the relegation/promotion playoff.
Shujaa have been grouped in Pool C alongside France, Spain and Great Britain in the event that is planned to take place between March 28 and March 30.
According to the organizers, the nations which will finish between the ninth and twelfth positions at the end of the season will compete in the promotion/relegation playoff.
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Shujaa performances in HSBC SVNS Series 2025
Dubai 7s – 10th (3 points)
Cape Town 7s – 7th (8 points)
Perth 7s – 10th (3 points)
Vancouver 7s – 12th (1 point)
Hong Kong 7s – 28 to 30 March
Singapore 7s – 5 to 6 April
Los Angeles 7s – 3 to 4 May
