By BS MULAVI

Will Price of Wales score a try against Kenya as Oscar Ouma tackles him hard at the Glasgow Sevens, round eight of the HSBC Sevens World Series, yesterday. [PHOTO: IRB]

Kenya’s hopeS on finishing the International Rugby Board Sevens circuit on a high, took a dent on the first day of the Glasgow Sevens as Kenya crashed to the Bowl Competition of the tournament.

Two early losses to Wales 24-19 and to Fiji 24-17 meant Kenya failed to qualify for the Main Cup quarter-finals for the penultimate leg of the IRB series.

Kenya’s only solace for the tournament is that they ran the teams close in both games, but simply lacked the finishing power.

Kenya started the Wales game on a high tempo and after a sinbin to Welsh player Luke Morgan, Kenya rightfully took the lead through Biko Adema after they took advantage of their superior number in the pitch.

Wales were able to reply through Ross Jones, but Kenya quickly got back to their stride to score through Oscar Ayodi to solidify their lead and look more in control.

Resilient side

Wales, however, proved to be a resilient side and score through Jason Harries before the break to take the game to 14-12 at half-time in Kenya’s favour.

On return of the two teams, Collins Injera got his first try of the tournament, but Kenya failed to hold on to their lead with Wales scoring twice through Luke Morgan and Will Price to emerge winners in the crunch match.

Having lost the first match, Kenya knew they now faced an uphill task against Fiji for their second group game.

Kenya came out with all guns blazing and held Fiji for the first few minutes of the game with Collins Injera getting his second try of the tournament, which was followed closely by a try from his brother Humphrey Kayange to take an early 12-0 lead after Injera missed the first conversion.

The odds seemed to be in Kenya’s favor because even though Samisoni Viriviri pulled one back for Fiji, Kenya scored a third try before the break to go into the break with a commanding 17-5 lead.                 

First game

Similar to the first game, Kenya could not hold on to the lead in the second half, where they conceded three tries from Samisoni Viriviri, Benito Masilevu and Naisea Nacuqu.

The side will however be proud that they put up a better fight than they did in Hong Kong, but they will still know that they are yet to be playing at the levels that is expected from them.

With only one leg left in the series in London next weekend, head coach Paul Treu will have to dig deeper and try and find a way to make the team excel under his tenure, barely a season after they performed their best under Mike Friday, the man he succeeded.