Kenya face baptism of fire at Dubai Sevens
Vincent Onyala of Kenya (right) runs with the ball chased by Harvey Elms of Scotland during their 7s rugby match in the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Cape Town on 10 September 2022.
What you need to know:
- “Shujaa”, who finished last in the opening leg of the 2022/2023 World Sevens Series last month, take on Australia, who are also the Series champions from 10.46am, Kenyan time, in the Pool ‘A’ contest.
- Kenya will then face defending champions South Africa at 2.20pm before wrapping up against Great Britain at 7.18pm.
Kenya Sevens badly need an improved performance when they take on Hong Kong Sevens champions Australia in their opening match of Dubai Sevens on Friday at the Sevens Stadium.
“Shujaa”, who finished last in the opening leg of the 2022/2023 World Sevens Series last month, take on Australia, who are also the Series champions from 10.46am, Kenyan time, in the Pool ‘A’ contest.
Kenya will then face defending champions South Africa at 2.20pm before wrapping up against Great Britain at 7.18pm.
Kenya Sevens wobbled through the Hong Kong Sevens where they collected one point to finish last without a win.
“Shujaa” lost to New Zealand 43-0 in the Challenge Trophy quarter-finals before shockingly going down to Uruguay 10-7 in the semi-final for 13th place at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Dramatic results
Australia confirmed their status with a thrilling victory over defending champions Fiji 20-17 in the Hong Kong Sevens Cup final.
The dramatic results brought to an end Fiji’s dominance that had seen them take the last five titles in Hong Kong.
South Africa finished eighth after they went down to Argentina 19-12 in the fifth place semi-final while Great Britain wound up 11th after they lost to Canada 17-12 in the ninth place semi-final.
Fiji, the double Olympic gold medallists Fiji will face Argentina, New Zealand and Uruguay in Pool ‘B’ while third seeds France taking on Ireland, Spain and Uganda in Pool ‘C’ while Samoa, the United States of America, Canada and Japan will battle in Pool ‘D.’
Dubai Sevens had two events in 2021 where South Africa won both competitions.
Kenya finished eighth in the first event after losing to Ireland 29-7 in the final for seventh place and sixth in the second after going down to Great Britain 10-5 in the final for fifth place.
