Poor show for Shujaa at Hong Kong Sevens

Shujaa center Dennis Abukuse in action against Australia at Hong Kong Sevens. [KRU]

Kenya Sevens began their journey to try and earn promotion back to the World Rugby Sevens Series on the back foot after suffering back-to-back defeats in the opening leg of the SVNS World Championship, Hong Kong Sevens yesterday.

Shujaa went down 28-12 to New Zealand in a match played at Kai Tak Sports Park as the East Africans remain bottom of Group C.

The national team came into the fixture having not beaten New Zealand in their last 13 meetings, with their last victory dating back to 2018.

Kevin Wambua’s charges had earlier lost their opener 14-5 to Australia, while the All Blacks Sevens arrived confident after beating USA in their opening match.

Kevine Wekesa and Nygel Amaitsa scored for Shujaa in the defeat.

In their opening match, Kenya began the match positively, and though they scored in the opening minute when a kick and chase by Nygel Amaitsa was deemed to be a knock-on by try scorer Patrick Odongo, who failed to collect the ball properly after beating the Aussies' defence for pace.

The restart was clean from the Australians, who, after moving the ball from the left wing to the right wing, scored through Josh Turner, with Dietrich Roache adding the extras for a 7-0 lead in the third minute.

James Turner would push the scores to 14-0 after another Roache conversion when they punished Shujaa after another knock-on by Kevin Wekesa won the Aussies possession.

In the final half, Dennis Abukuse got Kenya back on straight from kick off when he picked a loose ball to score an unconverted try near the posts as the Kelvin Wambua charges trailed 14-5.

A pull and push followed, with both teams winning possession and losing it multiple times before finally the hooter sounded to end the match 14-5.

Kenya must now beat USA today to stand a chance of making the quarter-finals as one of the two best losers.

After the preliminary matches, the top two teams from the three groups will proceed to the quarter-finals and joined by the two best losers from the remaining teams in the group.

The World Championship will feature three legs starting with Hong Kong this weekend, then Valladolid in Spain (May 29-31) and finally Bordeaux in France (June 5-7).

The winners will be crowned in France while the top eight teams after the three legs form part of the 2026-2027 World Rugby Sevens Division One teams.

The bottom four will once again be relegated to Division Two, where two teams from Division Three will join them, and it will be played next year over three legs to determine the best four nations to qualify for the 2027 World SVSNS Championship.

Meanwhile, Kenya Cup play-offs will begin today locally as Strathmore University face Kenya University Blak Blad at Strathmore grounds.

In Nakuru, Menengai Oilers will host Nondescripts at the Nakuru ASK Grounds.