All eyes will be on Fiji-born Jone Kubu as Kenya Shujaa search for their first Cup quarter-final appearance in this season’s World Rugby Sevens Series (SVNS) at Vancouver Sevens this weekend.
Kenya tackle Argentina at 12:08am before facing France from 5:13am on Saturday in their Group “A” opening fixtures of the fourth leg of the series.
Shujaa will return to the 54,000-capacity BC Place for their final group assignment versus Great Britain at 10:58pm on Saturday.
Kabras Sugar RFC full back Jones Kubu charges past Menengai Oilers defence during the Kenya Cup Rugby League final match on March 12, 2022 at the 'Bullring'.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Born on April 18, 1994, in Naitasiri, Fiji to Seveci and Ilisapeci Tavaga, Kubu is poised to make his debut for Kenya Sevens just over a decade after playing in Kenya for the first time with the Samurai International team in the 2014 for the Safari Sevens.
Kubu impressed in Nairobi then and was signed by Kabras Sugar RFC in 2015 where he has gone on to win four Kenya Cup titles in prominent fashion.
His playmaking skills and kicking abilities could come in handy for the ninth-ranked Kenya who will be kenly fighting to avoid relegation from the SVNS.
Shujaa, under coach Kevin Wambua, have their work cut out for them in North America.
Jone Kubu (left) of Kabras Sugar RFC evades a tackle from Bethwel Anami of Strathmore Leos during a Kenya Cup match at Impala Club, Nairobi on March 6, 2021.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
They have lost nine consecutive matches against second-placed Argentina, including eight in the Series. The last time Shujaa tasted victory against the Argentinians was 24-19 in March 2019 at the USA Sevens.
Shujaa have suffered five straight defeats at the hands of fifth-ranked Olympic champions France in the Series, with their last win against the French being 26-15 in Spain in 2022.
Kenya defeated eighth-placed Great Britain 32-17 in their last meeting at Cape Town Sevens in South Africa on December 8, 2024. Before that, Kenya had lost four matches and drawn once against the Britons.
Speedster Patrick Odongo has been the man getting Shujaa on the scoreboard. He has scored a team high 11 tries from the first three legs in Dubai (UAE), Cape Town (South Africa) and Perth (Australia).
According to The Fiji Times, Kubu’s rugby journey started when sevens legend and family friend Waisale Serevi gifted a rugby ball to him when he was a year old.
Speaking to Fiji’s oldest newspaper Fiji Times, Kubu’s mother Ilisapeci said her son playing in the SVNS was an achievement she wished his father Seveci Tavaga would have been alive to witness. Seveci passed away last month.
Jones Kubu of Kabras Sugar RFC charges with the ball during a training session at Lions Primary School in Kakamega on March 10, 2022.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Ilisapeci recalled that Kubu did not want to be a doctor or anything else but a rugby player because he was given a rugby ball, and he would like to follow that.
“I know for a fact that he’s following his dreams. We had asked him to come out from Kenya, I think in his third year. He said ‘no’. He said, ‘This is where I rose to international level, and I’ll stay here to fulfill my dreams of playing in the World Sevens Series,” The Fijian Times quoted Kubu’s mother saying on Friday.
Apart from Kubu, exciting young talent Jackson Siketi,18, from Kabras Sugar is also in line to make his debut for Shujaa in the 12-team six-leg tournament.
Series leaders Fiji will get Vancouver Sevens underway against Uruguay in Group “C” at 10.18pm on Friday. Spain and the USA are also in this group. Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa are in Group “B”.
Kenya vs Argentina (12:08am, Saturday)
Kenya vs France (5:13am, Saturday)
Kenya vs Great Britain (10:58pm, Saturday)
