Kenya Sevens settle 12th at World Cup

Kenya Sevens finished 12th at the Rugby World Cup Sevens that will end Sunday night at Cape Town Stadium, South Africa.

It’s United States of America who edged out Shujaa 26-19 to claim 11th place at the championship where three-time defending champions New Zealand were due to face two-time Olympic champions Fiji in the Cup final late Sunday.

Shujaa drew first blood when Vincent Onyala collected a loose ball before slicing through the blindside to score. Samuel Oliech added the extras to take the lead.

However, Lucas Lacamp broke through to score as Steve Tomasin converted to level the proceedings 7-7 at the break.

Skipper Nelson Oyoo put Shujaa on the driver’s seat again when he beat his markers with great speed to score as Oliech did the needful for a 14-7 lead.  

Malacchi Esdale went for the touchdown before Perry Baker landed a quick brace for Tomasin to convert to see Mike Friday's side pull away 26-14. Jeff Oluoch pulled one back for Kenya but all was in vain.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with our poor kick-offs and lineouts. You give a good side like the USA a sniff and they take it,” said Oliech, who is glad that the team has greatly improved. “The team is now stronger and has jelled. We can only get better from here.”

Shujaa, who reached the semi-finals of the 2009 and 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, had finished 16th in the previous 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, United States.

The team finished seventh out of 15 teams at the Commonwealth Games in July in Birmingham and 12th in the 2021/22 World Rugby Sevens Series.

The team had another poor run at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games where it placed ninth out of 12 teams.