Shujaa finish eighth in Hamilton Sevens

Kenya's Willy Ambaka scores a try against South Africa on day two of the HSBC New Zealand Sevens 2020 men's competition at FMG Stadium Waikato on 26 January, 2020 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Photo credit: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby

Kenya’s seven rubgy men’s team, Shujaa, crushded South Africa 36-14 as the local lads harvested 10 points at the Hamiliton leg of the IRB Sevens Series.

Shujaa were however unlucky going down 19-17 to Argentina in the seventh-place playoff of the third round of the 2019-20 World Sevens Series which concluded in New Zealand yesterday.

As a result, Kenya climbed one place in the overall standings and the side now occupies 10th position with 25 points ahead of this weekend’s Sydney Sevens in Australia.

The victory over South Africa in their third pool B fixture was Kenya’s only win of the tournament and it saw them register their first success over the Blitzboks in the Series since the 2015-16 season when they beat them at their own backyard.

Collins Injera, William Ambaka  and Alvin Otieno all crossed the whitewash with Vincent Onyalla and Jeffrey Oluoch also getting themselves on the score sheet as Kenya bagged their most convincing win over Neil Powell’s men in recent years.

Shujaa had earlier relinquished a 19-5 advantage to lose 24-19 to England before blowing a seven-point lead as they were held 12-12 by lowly Japan.

It was a similar story against the Argentines as Shujaa recovered from a seven-point deficit to lead 17-7 at half-time but they would concede two tries and one conversion in the second half to suffer their second loss.

Shujaa, who are under the tutelage of New Zealander Paul Feeney, were left to rue their inability to defend properly after all their two losses in Hamilton occurred when they were holding commanding leads.

Fresh from being named the Most Promising Boy of 2019 at Kenya’s Sports Personality of The Year Awards, KCB youngster Geoffrey Okwach was handed his Series debut and he did not take much time in settling as he was among the try scorers in Shujaa’s 36-14 win against South Africa.

As the 10-legged competition heads to Australia this weekend, Feeney has his work cut out as he will be tasked with ensuring that Shujaa become solid defensively and improve on their discipline in crucial areas of the field.

The two-day Hamilton event at the FMG Stadium Waikato was full of upsets as some top sides found themselves in unfamiliar territory following the scraping of Main Cup quarter-finals.

The move to shorten the tournament, which was necessitated by the running of the men’s and women’s events concurrently, saw only the four pool winners remain in contention for the title with hosts New Zealand reigning supreme after overcoming France 27-5 in the final.