It has taken Kenya six years to reach the Cup quarter-finals but yesterday they showed they have arrived on the international scene. Wins over Portugal and Scotland in group E saw them through to the blue-riband competition.
Kenya have come into their own this year. Powerful forwards combined with quick and agile backs helped them book their place in the last eight against Fiji - and they don't plan to stop there.
'I'm aiming to get at least to the semi-finals,' said Kenya coach Benjamin Ayimba. 'We have a talented squad and what we have now that in previous years we were missing is maturity and experience. Now we have that and I think we can compete with the best there is here. It's the first time we have won our group and qualified for the Cup so we have nothing to lose. We must be ambitious and set our goals high.'
Tries from Lavin Asego, Collins Injera and Dennis Mwanja with two conversions from Asego saw them past Portugal, while two tries from Humphrey Kayange and one from Innocent Simiyu with another two conversions from Asego, eased them past Scotland.
In what has been a turbulent and violent time for Kenya, coach Ayimba was glad that finally the country had something to cheer about. 'We've shown today we can compete at a high level and are as good as any of the teams left in the Cup. We'll be giving it our all tomorrow,' he said.
Meanwhile, Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora's Hong Kong swansong was ruined by South Africa yesterday.
