By John Kwoba
NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's women rugby sevens head coach Kevin Wambua said Wednesday their focus is not on the size of their opponents but on winning the competition and securing a core status at the World Series in Hong Kong, China.
Kenya team has arrived in Hong Kong and will be up against a strong pool that has continental rivals South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Mexico. The top two teams will proceed to the quarterfinals.
"My players are more confident, fitter and technically apt and are looking to give them a run for their money. I hope we win to join our men's side as a core team in the World Series," said Wambua.
He remained buoyant about his team's ability, saying the national women's team, the Lionesses, has a realistic chance of returning to the cup quarters and challenging from there.
"We are in a balanced pool and other than Papua New Guinea, we have faced Mexico and South Africa before and are positive that based on the work we have constantly been putting in, we shall return the results to first qualify for the quarters and challenge from there heading into the knockouts," he added.
But he warned his players against underrating the Papua New Guinea side , saying it may throw the spanner in their works.
"I do believe the first game against Papua New Guinea will be important for us in terms of how we want to play the tournament. It will be important for us to be quick off the blocks and post a good result in that game," he said.
The Lionesses will then play Mexico before winding up pool play with a match against continental rivals South Africa.
Commenting on the South Africa clash, Wambua said: "We are relishing the match against South Africa, seeing as we lost to them by five points during the Women's Africa Cup Sevens final."
The Lionesses reached the cup quarterfinal stage at last year's qualifier and will be out to go all the way this time round and secure core status for the 2018 -19 season.
