Kenya Sevens knocked out of London Sevens

Shujaa's Billy Odhiambo is caught by the Ireland defense during Vancouver Sevens. [Courtesy-World Rugby]

Kenya Sevens poor show at the World Rugby Seven Series continued on Saturday at the London Sevens after two defeats saw them knocked out of the Main Cup quarterfinals.

Shujaa lost their opening Group B match to Ireland 17-14 before their fate was sealed by World Sevens Series leaders Argentina who thrashed them 26-0.

In the first match, Shujaa trailed 5-0 at the break after Aaron O’Sullivan breached the defence on the left wing to give the Irish the slender lead before Edmund Anya restored parity 5-5 early in the second half. Anthony Omondi converted for a 7-5 lead.

The Irish regained their lead after speedster Jordon Conroy scored a try that Mark Roche converted for a 12-5.

Arcadius Khwesa scored with seconds on the clock after fending off two defenders outside Ireland’s 22-metre and crossing the whitewash under the sticks. Omondi successfully converted the try for 14-12 lead.

However, Kenya conceded a penalty in Ireland’s half from the restart which their opponents capitalised on to score the winning try through Terry Kennedy.

Shujaa head coach Damian McGrath said there is still a lot of work to be done to get Kenya back to where it belongs.

“We have been giving away cheap possession and dropping the ball a lot and first we need to work on retaining our possession. It is still a long way to go and work in progress,” said the Englishman who replaced Innocent Simiyu two-weeks ago.