Commonwealth Games: McGrath lauds Shujaa’s performance in Birmingham

Shujaa head coach Damian McGrath is upbeat that the men’s national rugby 7s side will continue getting even better after reaching the main cup quarterfinal of the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham.

Since taking over from the fired Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu in April, McGrath was overseeing his first official assignment with the team having watched from the sidelines as Shujaa finished last in Toulouse and London in the 2022 HSBC World Series.

After a six week camp in preparation for the Games, the team finished behind Australia in pool D to advance to the quarters where the defending champions New Zealand proved too good for them as they were defeated 31-0.

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Despite being knocked out of medal contention, the English head coach was left delighted with the progress the team had made during the short spell as he promised even better tidings.

“In the end we got bullied but for six weeks of work, it was not a bad effort. We ran out of steam because we had very physical games earlier and the tries each side of half time just took the game from us as our composure also went away. What I cannot ever question is their attitude and effort because they threw their bodies on the line. We were just beaten by a better team,” McGrath assessed.

“I have only been here six weeks where we have worked together. For that period, this is a good effort. We are not miracle workers. You cannot sprinkle magic dust and turn people who were cellar dwellars in London and Toulouse suddenly into medal contenders. We have come a long way in such a long time and we will be better in Los Angeles, in the World Cup and when the World Series starts again,” he said.

Additionally, the coach promised to learn from the lessons picked at the Games as he aims at making the team consistent.

“I think we saw a different outfit this weekend compared to the previous outings a few weeks ago. We have gone back to basics and we are trying to build the players up. We cannot match these people yet but we will match them because that is our aim.

We can see improvement week in week out and that is a work in progress. We have developed benchmarks that we need to reach and we are going to be regulars in the cup competitions,” he said.