Kenya Sevens chances of surviving relegation from the World Ruby Sevens Series on Friday afternoon got thinner and thinner after losing their opening match to Uruguay 19-0 at the Toulouse Sevens in France.
Baltazar Amaya gave Uruguay the lead inside the opening second minute with a corner post try for a 5-0 lead.
Mateo Vinals stretched the scores to 10-0 before Guillermo Lijtenstein's conversion saw the South Americans lead 12-0 at the break.
In the final half, poor ball handling and easy penalties give away by Kenya saw the patient Uruguayans capitalize to stretch the lead to 19-0 through Bautista Basso and Lijtenstein's conversion.
George Ooro Angeyo scored Shujaa's consolation try at the last minute after an offload from Brian Tanga to lose 19-5.
Shujaa who are in Group A alongside series leaders New Zealand and Canada have to collect at least 12 points and above to stand a chance of avoiding relegation.
Currently, Kenya are 13th in the standings with 37 points, 12 points behind Uruguay heading into the final two legs in Toulouse and London.
According to World Rugby, the 15th ranked core teams and below based on accumulated Series points following the tenth round in Toulouse will be relegated.
The teams ranked 12th, 13th and 14th at the end of Toulouse will enter a four-team relegation play-off together with the Challenger Series 2023 winners at the eleventh and final round of the Series in London.
The relegation play-off will be round-robin format with the top two teams then playing a final.
The winner will become the 12th core team on the 2024 Series, while the other three teams will enter their respective Regional Sevens Championships in order to qualify for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.
Shujaa play New Zealand at 7.16pm East African Time.
