Shujaa face Red Wailers in Safari 7s quarters

Vincent Onyala (with ball) of Morans avoids a tackle from Angelo Davids of South Africa during their Tusker Safari Sevens 2019 match at RFUEA Grounds on October 19, 2019. South Africa won 17-12.

The Kenya rugby Sevens team, Shujaa qualified for the Main Cup quarters of the Safari Sevens after winning all their Pool C matches at the RFUEA ground yesterday.

Shujaa, who are chasing the Safari Sevens title they last won in 2016, will face Pool B runner-up Red Wailers in the second quarter final at 10.40am today.

While Shujaa had an easy stroll to the last eight by winning all their matches and conceding only a single try at the rained-soaked RFUEA pitch, Red Wailers, who have a number of Kenyan players, finished second in Pool B.

Red Wailers,who are a United Kingdom franchise, picked two wins and lost 15-12 to South African side Western province. 

Shujaa's first match of the preliminaries saw them face Zambia, a tie which the East Africans won 31-0 before the Paul Feeney-coached side upheld their unblemished record by dismantling Russia Academy 41-0. Bush Mwale and Nelson Oyoo scored two tries each.

Shujaa finished their preliminaries with a 19-7 win over Blue Bulls from South Africa. 

Meanwhile, Kenya's second-string team, Morans, who are captained by Homeboyz RFC's Jeffrey Oluoch, remained on course for their first Safari Sevens title since 2000 despite blowing a 12-5 first half lead to lose to tournament favourites South Africa 17-12.

The Morans will have themselves to blame as they had a chance to beat the South Africans at the death only for Vincent Onyala 's handling error to deny them. 

Onyala had given the Morans the lead, scoring a breakaway try after possession was turned over before his KCB counterpart Johnstone Olindi added the conversion. 

It was soon 12-0 to the home team as Geoffrey Okwach, who also plays for the Kenya under-20 15s team, scored an unconverted try before the South Africans reduced the deficit on the stroke of halftime through a Stedman Gans five pointer. 

South Africa, who have seven players with World Sevens Series experience, would then come for the second half firing on all cylinders as captain Siviwe Soyizwapi scored a quickfire brace to give the Blitzboks a 17-12 win. 

Prior to the loss to South Africa, Morans had beaten neighbours Uganda 24-10 before sealing their place in the quarter-finals with a 52-0 thrashing of Burundi.