Shujaa must edge Great Britain in their pursuit for SVNS series slot

Kenya Sevens must win their final Group A match against Great Britain today at the ongoing Valladolid Sevens if they are to increase their chances of qualifying back to the HSBC SVNS Division One next season.

Shujaa dug a hole for themselves yesterday after losing their opening two matches in Spain against archrivals South Africa and Australia, results that leave them at risk of not making the Main Cup quarter-finals today.

With the two defeats, Kenya sits bottom of Group A with one point, a losing bonus collected when they lost to Australia 15-10 on golden point in their opener.

Henry Hutchison gave Australia the best start when he went over the white-wash in the second minute of the match for a 5-0 lead, with Dietrich Roache sending his conversion attempt wide.

Shujaa responded through their speed star, Patrick Odongo, who sold a pair of wheels to ground a kick and chase the ball from Nygel Amaitsa in the fourth minute. Amaitsa, however, failed to add the extras, leaving the game tied at 5-5.

Dietrich Roache handed the Australians the lead at the stroke of half-time when he scored another unconverted try for a 10-5 half-time lead.

In the final half, Shujaa returned with big defensive plays by winning back possession before driving into the Aussies’ 22 and scoring off a scrum through Samwel Asati to tie the scores at 10-10 after another missed conversion.

Shujaa continued to pile pressure again and won back the ball when the Aussies knocked the ball. Kenya took the lead from the resultant scrum, but it was ruled out after Abukuse was ruled to have been thrown out of the field.

The following two minutes saw both teams miss out on winning the match as big defensive plays and mistakes clouded the match, which stretched two minutes after the hooter before moving to sudden death.

Despite Kenya winning possession again, they lost the lineout throw, and this time Australia penalised them by scoring the winner through Dietrich Roache for a 15-10 win.

In their second match, Kenya Sevens lost 14-0 to South Africa. Shilton van Wyk intercepted an offload to score between the posts before Tristan Leyds added the extras as South Africa took a comfortable 7-0 lead.

Sebastiaan Jobb finished off Shujaa, who had too many ball-handling errors in the match to leave the East Africans with a mountain to climb today.

The result leaves them at the bottom of Group A with one point and must now beat Great Britain to stand a chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals as one of the two best losers who will join the top two teams from the three groups.

Shujaa, who are currently seventh in the SVNS Championship standings with eight points following their mixed show at Hong Kong Sevens last month, are looking for a better finish in Spain for them to stand a chance of qualifying for the World Rugby Sevens Series next season.

With the SVNS Championship ending next week in France, the top eight teams will form the eight core sides in the SVNS Division One next season, while the bottom four will be relegated to Division Two.