DWINDLING FORTUNES: Kenya end disastrous Hong Kong IRB series tour with Shield trophy
Rugby
By
BS MULAVI
| Mar 30, 2015
The Kenya national sevens team ended their disastrous Hong Kong campaign by winning the Shield competition on the third day.
The side failed to win any of their games on the first two days of the tournament, which relegated them to the Bowl Competition, where they were beaten 21-10 by Canada in the quarter-finals to be further relegated to the shield, which is the lowest tier of the tournament.
It is in the shield where Kenya won their first game by beating Portugal 21-0 in the semi-finals and Japan 26-7 in the finals.
Captain Andrew Amonde hopes to build on the Shield success next weekend in Tokyo: "We needed a morale-boosting victory and we are happy to win the Shield. It's been a tough weekend for us but this will give us confidence ahead of Tokyo next weekend."
Meanwhile, Fiji were outstanding in beating defending champions New Zealand 33-19, their second consecutive Cup final win, at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, round six of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
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The win puts them just two points behind South Africa (110) in the overall series standings and one point ahead of third-placed New Zealand (107), with Australia (84) and England (78) rounding out the top five as the race for Olympic qualification continues.
In the other games, Australia beat the USA 21-17, collecting their second consecutive win in a Plate final and valuable Series points. Breakaway tries from USA's Andrew Durutalo and speedster Perry Baker gave the Eagles a 12-7 lead at half-time after Australia's Allan Fa'alava'au had earlier dashed to the try line unopposed. But tries to Shannon Walker and Cameron Clark looked to have wrapped up the victory for Geraint John's side.
In the third tier, Scotland beat France to the Bowl title.
"We worked hard to win the breakdown and have played smarter, and won three on day three," said Scotland captain Scott Riddell. "We need the belief in ourselves, the performance is there. We need to be more consistent and keep bringing it game after game."
The performance in Hong Kong means Kenya has been pooled in a group against South Africa, USA and Canada for the seventh leg of the series in Japan to be played next weekend.
Head coach Felix Ochieng' will have to work extra hard this week if the team is to change their fortunes at the games.