Kenya relegated to Challenge Trophy in Sydney 7s

The last time Shujaa stopped South Africa was in 2015, winning 14-12 at Blitzbokke’s backyard in Cape Town 7s.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 4 – The national sevens team was relegated to the Challenge trophy after losing her second group match to series table toppers South Africa 7-14 at the fourth round of the HSBC Sevens World Series at Sydney 7s tournament in Australia on Saturday morning.

This is after failing to break an 11-match winless streak to a solid England side who beat Shujaa 19-12 to extend their dominance over Kenya to 12 successive matches to join South Africa in the Main Cup quarter-finals.

Kenya will play her last match at 11:51am against Japan who were also relegated to the Challenge Trophy after losing to South Africa 32-0 and England 26-0.

Shujaa needed to win against the Blitzbokke to revive their chances of playing a second Main Cup quarter this season but despite leading 7-0 at the break, Kenya could not contain South Africa in the last period to concede two tries.

South Africa’s Branco du Preez did brilliantly to deny Willy Ambaka by pushing him just into touch with the Shujaa Sevens star only clearing grass ahead of him.

However, the Kenyans broke through when Collins Injera put Augustine Lugonzo clear with a lovely, clever, deceptive pass, who gave a salute to the crowd as Kenya danced their way into the lead.

The innocent Simiyu charges lost concentration in the second half where despite matching South Africa’s physicality every step of the way, they were reduced to six men after fly-half Eden Agero was send to the sin bin for a high tackle.

This gave the advantage to the Blitzbokke with their star Seabelo Senatla, who is hard enough to stop with seven men, maximizing it to run in his fourth and then fifth try of the day to seal the win for the South Africans.

 

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