Kenya 7s recover to stun South Africa in Dubai

Kenya Sevens marked their return to the World Rugby Sevens Series with a stunning golden points victory over Paris Olympics bronze medallists South Africa at the Dubai Sevens on Saturday.

It’s Nygel Amaitsa, who touched down the golden points try for his second try to see Shujaa win 22-17 after the two teams had battled to a 17-17 draw at full time.

However, Shujaa had to wait nervously for the Television match official (TMO) decision before the Fijian Tevita Rokovereni declared them the winner.

This is after Amaitsa and Blitzbokke defenders had chased the overhead chip ball with the Kenyan making the vital touch in the try box.

It was a great relief for Kenya, after losing to Olympic champions France through golden points 24-19 in their opening Pool A duel.

Kenya face Australia in their last pool match at 7.22pm on Saturday. The last time the two teams met was in 2022 when they battled to a 19-19 draw.

South Africa had beaten Australia 17-0 in their opening match.

It’s the burly Kelvin Wekesa, who charged through the Blitzbokke defence to land but Amaitsa missed the conversion for a 5-0 lead.

Basically, Shujaa starved Blitzebokke ball possession to dominate at the midfield with good kick-offs working to their advantage.

Then Patrick Odongo chased an overhead chip to ground the ball before it went out of play. Amaitsa went on to convert to stretch the lead to 12-0.

The unrelenting Odongo put on his wheels at the midfield before swinging to the wing, beating his markers to land a breathtaking try. Amaitsa missed the extras as Kenya led 17-0 at the break.

The Blizebokke, who are Dubai Sevens defending champions, were clinical on return in the game of two halves.  Mistakes at the breakdown by Shujaa gave Blitzebokke some breathing space as Tristan Leyds and Donavan Don bludgeoned through for the touchdowns that brought them closer 17-12.

Then Tristan Leyds’ try would level the proceedings for Blitzebokke 17-17 before Amaitsa’s heroics.

“It’s such a good feeling to win on return, especially against an experienced side like South Africa. Kudos to the boys for the great teamwork but we shouldn’t lose focus,” said Odongo.

It was a thrilling exchange of leads as Kenya Sevens forced France to an inspiring 19-19 draw in regulation time before the golden points square-off.

It's France, who are the series champions that landed first when Gregoire Arfeul broke through Kenya Sevens' defence to score in the second minute as Paulin Riva converted.

But co-captain George Ooro led from the front, to strike back with a try that Amaitsa added the extras to level for Kenya to level 7-7 at the stroke of half time.

Odongo, who is making his debut at the World Series, broke the line to score as Amaitsa converted to put Shujaa ahead 14-7.

After a good build-up, France landed through Celian Pouzelgues to inch closer 14-13 before Ali Dabo went for another try as Anahemo Artaud converted to reclaim the lead 19-14.

Some individual brilliance from Chrisant Ojwang saw him level for Kenya at 19-19 with a pulsating try only for Dabo’s try to break the Kenyan's hearts. 

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