KENYA WINLESS IN HONG KONG: Shujaa relegated to bowl as they lose all group matches
Rugby
By
BS MULAVI
| Mar 29, 2015
Kenya’s hopes of playing in the Main Cup competition of the Hong Kong Leg of the circuit were dashed yesterday after they lost both their games crashing to the Bowl Competition.
The national Sevens team has now lost all of their group games, having being beaten by USA (21-14), England (17-7) and Wales (19-12) to finish at the bottom of their group.
All three games had the same script with Kenya putting up a spirited fight, but lacking that killer blow they needed to win.
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Similar to their good start against USA in the opening minutes of the game, Kenya also took the battle to England in their first game on the second day of competition.
However, England soaked up the pressure and patiently reconciled to score three well-worked tries in comparison to a single individual effort try by Collins Injera as a consolation.
Against Wales, the duel seemed more even-matched with Kenya going to the break with a narrow 7-5 lead, but three tries from Wales in the closing minutes saw Kenya lose out on their only opportunity of victory in the group.
Kenya is set play Canada today, at 4.30am (Kenya time) for the Bowl quarterfinals.
This is a must-win battle as the side needs to be cautious not to flirt with relegation at the bottom of the Sevens World Series table standings.
Pundits have claimed that Kenya are now better under head coach Felix Ochieng’ than they were with Paul Treu, but critics have been put off by the lack of tangible results in terms of consistency in playing in the Main Cup competition.
As Kenya play in the Bowl, they will need to start building for the next leg in Japan which will be played next weekend, where they will have a chance to redeem themselves with only two legs of Scotland and England remaining.
SOUTH AFRICA SHINE
Meanwhile HSBC Sevens Series leaders South Africa and Fiji were the only sides to maintain 100 per cent records during pool games as they booked their places in the Cup quarter-finals in style at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, round six of the Series.
Having never won the Hong Kong leg, the Blitzboks produced a confident Day Two performance with Seabelo Senatla picking up a hat-trick as they defeated France 29-7 after earlier accounting for Japan 27-0 in front of 38,900 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Neil Powell’s side will face Australia in the quarter finals, while Fiji — who beat Belgium 38-7 and Canada 45-0 await England.