Dubai 7s: Kenya fall to Spain, draw with France to finish third

Kenya's Johnstone Olindi races away in a past match. [Photo: World Rugby]

The Kenya national rugby seven’s team, Shujaa, finished third in Pool Blue after a shocking 15-14 loss to Spain on Friday evening in the final match of day one Emirates Invitational sevens tournament played at the Sevens Stadium.

Kenya Sevens will face Canada in the Emirates Dubai Invitational Sevens quarterfinals on Saturday after finishing third in Pool Blue in the group matches.

Kenya won one, drew one and lost one match in the three matches played against Chile, France and Spain respectively.

Spain shocked Kenya 15-14 in the final group match of the day after Spain scored a late unconverted try to finish second in Pool Blue ahead of Kenya who accumulated six points.

Spain took a commanding 10-0 lead before Willy Ambaka and Daniel Tabu scored to give Kenya a 14-10 lead with a few seconds to the final whistle.

However, the Spanish took the glory after Kenya’s poor kick saw the opponents dot a last gasp try after the hooter.

France finished top of Pool Blue with eight points followed by Spain with seven points.

Shujaa got off to a bright start at the 2021 Emirates Dubai Invitational Sevens tournament after coming from behind to thrash Chile 39-7 in a match staged at the Sevens Stadium.

Despite falling behind in the opening minutes of the match, Nelson Oyoo, Willy Ambaka, Harold Anduvate, Jeff Oluoch, Johnstone Olindi and Jacob Ojee tries ensured Kenya kick started their Dubai campaign with a win in Pool Blue.

The South Americans took an early 7-0 lead in the opening two minutes of the match before Kenya responded with an unconverted try after Oyoo outpaced the Chiliean defense to score at the corner off Tony Omondi’s offload.

Willy Ambaka ensured Kenya went to the break with a comfortable 17-7 lead after crossing over the whitewash twice.

Kenya's Willy Ambaka. [Photo: Courtesy]

Jeff Oluoch landed Kenya’s fourth try immediately after the restart before Johnstone Olindi made it five tries for innocent Simiyu’s men after pouncing on a loose ball.

Jacob Ojee and Harold Anduvate came off the bench to seal Kenya’s first win at the Dubai tournament used as part of the Tokyo Olympics Preparations.

In their second match, Willy Ambaka scored a brace as Kenya staged a second-half comeback to force a 19-19 draw with France.

In the women’s category, Kenya Lionesses endured a difficult start at the Dubai event after losing all their three opening matches.

In the opening match, Kenya closely lost to Japan 19-14 before heavily going down 38-5 to Canada in the second match.

In the third match, USA compounded Kenya’s worrying form with an emphatic 46-7 win over the East African heavyweights.

The Lionesses will be looking forward to bounce back today when they play Brazil, France 1 and France 2. France had two teams entered in the women’s category.

Kenya’s results at Dubai 7s

Men

Kenya 39-7 Chile

Kenya 19-19 France

Kenya 14-15 Spain

Women

Kenya 14-19 Japan

Kenya 5-38 Canada

Kenya 7-46 USA