Rugby: Poor Shujaa out of Commonwealth Games

Kenya rugby sevens head coach Damian McGrath (R) talks to Daniel Taabu during a training session on July 26, 2022 at the Broadstreet Rugby Football Club pitcch in Coventry, United Kingdom ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games between Thursday, 28 Jul 2022 - Mon, 8 Aug 2022 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Kelly Ayodi, Standard)

Kenya Sevens were on Saturday night knocked out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games after losing to New Zealand in the quarterfinals of the Rugby Sevens category.
Damian McGrath's charges were hammered 31-0 by the All Blacks at the Coventry Stadium.

In the other quarterfinal matches, South Africa saw off Canada 33-0 while Fiji knocked out Scotland 34-7. Australia edged off Samoa 7-0 in the last quarter-final match.

Kenya will now meet Scotland in the semi-finals for the fifth-place play-off today (Sunday) at 1.58 pm Kenyan time with Samoa taking on Canada in the other plate semifinal match.

Shujaa finished second in Group D behind leaders Australia after losing their last match to the Aussies.

Shujaa started the Commonwealth Games on the front foot with a statement 27-14 win over neighbouring rivals Uganda before booking their last four places with a massive 45-0 win over renowned sprinting nation Jamaica in the second match.

With two wins on Friday, Kenya was already assured of a quarterfinal place and faced Australia just to determine who will top the pool heading into the knockout stages.

In the very tight and low-scoring affair, indiscipline mistakes saw Kenya lose their first match in Birmingham after a 7-5 defeat to the Aussies.