George Ooro on how Kenya Sevens can secure HSBC Division One comeback

Kenya Sevens co-captain George Ooro has outlined the key mistakes Shujaa must address as they pursue an immediate return to the HSBC SVNS Division One circuit following a podium finish in the opening leg of the 2026 Division Two series in Nairobi.

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Shujaa finished third at the HSBC SVNS 2 tournament held from Saturday, 14 to Sunday, 15 February at Nyayo National Stadium. They registered four wins from five matches in a promising start to their campaign.

The hosts opened with a convincing 29–12 victory over Canada before dismantling Belgium 33–0. They closed Saturday’s action with a hard-fought 15–10 win against Germany, settled during extra time after a tightly contested encounter.

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On Sunday, Shujaa maintained momentum by beating Uruguay 17–7, but their run ended with a 21–5 defeat to the USA in the final outing.

Despite missing the title, Ooro’s standout performances earned him the HSBC SVNS 2 Player of the Tournament accolade.

Reflecting on the campaign, the co-captain expressed satisfaction with the team’s podium finish while acknowledging that the ultimate target had been victory.

“I feel good. Of course, we wanted to win the tournament, but in any competition, there are winners and losers. What matters is that we finished on the podium, which is important for us,” he said.

Ooro remained optimistic about the team’s position heading into the remaining legs of the series, noting that Shujaa are still on track to achieve their objective.

“We are not in a bad position; we are still in the top four, and we have two more tournaments to go. We just have to keep working hard.

Key takeaways and priority improvement areas from Nairobi’s HSBC SVNS 2 tournament

They beat us, but we will address our weaknesses, and we won’t let our fans down,” he offered.

The hard-hitting forward pointed to lapses in concentration and technical execution as areas that cost the side, particularly in their loss to the USA.

“Some of our weaknesses were in areas like scanning. They unsettled us at the set piece, and we switched off, and they capitalised. We’ll work on our scanning and improve our work at the rucks,” Ooro explained.

He also highlighted the importance of focus and team cohesion, stressing that while chemistry has improved, sharper attention to detail is needed.

“In terms of chemistry, we are in a better place now compared to before. We just lost focus at certain moments. We’ll work on our attention to detail and our attitude,” he averred.

The self-proclaimed ‘King’ reserved special appreciation for the supporters who filled Nyayo Stadium throughout the weekend.

“To our fans, thank you so much. We gave everything we could, and it’s unfortunate how it ended. But don’t lose hope, we will keep pushing,” he said.

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Looking ahead, he emphasised that the qualification race is far from over and that maintaining a top-four ranking remains the immediate target.

“The journey has only just begun. To return to the Series, we need to stay in the top four, and right now we are there.

In the coming tournaments, we must maintain that position to reach the Championship. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either, and we promise we’ll fight our way back to the Series,” he concluded.

The Nairobi leg marked the opening stop of the SVNS Division Two circuit, which now heads to Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 21–22 before concluding in São Paulo, Brazil, on March 28–29.

Under the revamped format, six teams per gender compete across three events, with the top four advancing to the SVNS World Championship stage.

There, they will face the leading eight sides from Division One in Hong Kong, Valladolid, and Bordeaux, with promotion to the top tier for the 2027 season at stake.