National rugby Under-20 men's team Chipu on Saturday kicked off the World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament on the back foot after losing the first match 34-25 to Samoa at Nyayo Stadium.
Poor ball handling skills and decision-making saw Chipu trail 13-5 before losing 34-25 after 80 minutes.
Ironically, it was Kenya who got off the blocks first after leading 5-0 inside the opening 10 minutes when George Otieno touched down but after Patrick Wainaina missed the conversion.
Paul Stanley restored parity for Samoa five minutes later before Afa Moleli gave the Oceania nation the lead in the 20th minute after splitting the posts with a well taken penalty.
William Hunt would then ensure Samoa would take an eight-point lead after touching down an unconverted try in the 31st minute.
In the final half, Eddy Murage cut the Samoan lead with a penalty 13-8 before John Samuelu made it 20-8 after Moleli's conversion.
Samuelu returned to the score sheet once again for Samoa who stretched the lead to 27-8 after Moleli added the extras.
With the Samoan ship already cruising to victory, Wycliff Otieno got a try back for Chipu to trail 27-13.
Hunt and Moleli would stretch Samoa's lead to 34-13 after combining for a try and conversion respectively.
Last minute fight back for Chipu through Stanslas Shikoli and Raphael Wanga tries did not bear any fruit as Samoa held on to win 34-25.
Kenya will now play Spain on Thursday in a must win match.
Zimbabwe who are the Barthes Cup champions kicked off the games with a 64-33 defeat to Scotland.
This is the second time Kenya is hosting the U20 Trophy since 2009 when the tournament was known as the Junior World Rugby Trophy.
The competition took place in Brazil four years ago and Kenya has affirmed its readiness to welcome the next generation of global rugby talent.
Barthes Cup champions Zimbabwe are in Group A alongside USA, Uruguay and Scotland.
The World Rugby U20 Trophy returns this year for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides the silverware, the eight competing teams will also be playing for a spot in the World Rugby U20 Championship next year in South Africa.
Winners will be promoted to the U20 Championship.
