Kenya men’s Rugby 7s team, Shujaa, ended their pool stage with a 26-0 loss to Samoa, marking their third defeat since the beginning of their Paris 2024 Olympics campaign.
The dream to reach the Olympic quarterfinals has now been postponed for another four years, pending qualification for the 2028 edition to be held in Los Angeles.
Coach Kevin Wambua’s boys will now play for the 9th -12th position tonight.
Shujaa fell 31-12 and 21-7 to Argentina and Australia respectively on day one of the Paris 2024 Rugby Sevens matches at the Stade de France.
Chrisant Ojwang was first to register points for Shujaa against Argentina as he cut through two defenders to stretch over and land the first try, Anthony Omondi sure with his boot added the extras to give Shujaa an early 7-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Agustin Fraga landed Argentina’s first try but the conversion was unsuccessful. Scores at the break reading 7-5 to Shujaa.
Agustin landed his brace in the eighth minute to give his side the 12-7 lead but it was soon neutralized by Shujaa’s Kevin Wekesa who scored an unconverted try.
Despite Shujaa’s relentless efforts in defence, Argentina went ahead to land three more tries with two being converted successfully for the full-time score to read 31-12.
In the second Pool B match, Shujaa faced Australia at 8:00 pm EAT. Aussie drew first blood in this encounter as James Turner landed the opening try in the first minute of the match with a successful conversion complementing the try for a 7-0 lead.
A penalty against Australia in their red zone saw Anthony Omondi take a quick tap and ground the ball for a converted centre post try to level the scores.
Australia later punished Shujaa with a deep kick that resulted in Nathan Lawson chasing it and with no defenders in sight, land their second converted try. The score at halftime was 14-7 to Australia.
In the second half, both sides showcased their defending prowess as no team got over the try line in the first 5 minutes of the match.
However, in the 13th minute of the match, Dietrich Roache landed Aussie’s third converted try to secure their victory and with it, subjected Shujaa to their second loss Pool match with a 21-7 full-time score.
