Billy stars in Wellington as Kenya drawn with South Africa in Sydney

Kenya Sevens stunned Australia 19-17 to lift the Challenge Trophy at Wellington 7s.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 29 – After lifting the Challenge Trophy at Wellington Sevens, Kenya has been drawn with South Africa, England and Japan in Pool  A for the fourth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Sydney on the weekend of February 4.

Shujaa upped their game to have a sterling performance on Day Two at Wellington Sevens overwhelming Russia 24-5 in the Challenge Trophy quarters, beating USA 19-12 in the semis before stunning Australia 19-17 to bag eight points.

Billy ‘The Kid’ Odhiambo had a brilliant day to lead the performance tracker with 32 tackles and help Kenya remain 10th on 25 points after three legs.

After 15 defeats in a row, Kenya claimed a rare win over Australia and all-time world top-try scorer Collins Injera was happy with the performance after returning to the team for the first time this season.

“We wanted to keep our focus, Australia are a quality side. We stood up and got the win. Today was very windy, the toughest I have had here since my debut in 2006,” the Shujaa vice-captain said.

Against Australia, Kenya started on a high with Samuel Oliech setting the pace after Billy Odhiambo spotted a gap to offload to him for the first try of the match, which sparked some rhythm.

Shujaa were on the score-sheet again, this time Billy Odhiambo crossing the try line but instead of putting it down he attempted to throw it to Injera who is clearly worried about Dan Norton and to some extent, Seabelo Senatla at the rate he’s going at. But James ‘Chucky’ Stannard stood in his way and prevented the try.

But Odhiambo did it perfectly this time when he burst down the wing to provide the perfect offload for Injera to score his 237th try.

Henry Hutchison gave Australia a glimmer of hope, scoring on the stroke of half-time under the posts to reduce the deficit. It was their first possession of the half and they scored relatively easily to trail 14-7 to Kenya at the break.

Odhiambo was not done yet as the Mwamba RFC winger followed up his delicate kick down the wing to just get his fingertips to the ball and ground his sixth of the weekend, and 62nd career try.

Australia pulled another one back as Dylan Pietsch scored his first-ever try before James Stannard sets up Mick Adams to dot in the corner, and then stepped up to kick the conversion.

But it was way too late as Shujaa Sevens had already sealed the win as they celebrated in style with their customary dance moves.

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