Kenya 7s slump in Vancouver to remain eighth

Kenya 7s slump in Vancouver to remain eighth

After chalking double digit returns in four of the five previous rounds, the national rugby 7’s team managed only a point in the sixth event of the 2015/16 HSBC World Series in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend.

Dreams for Shujaa to win the consolation Shield title were shattered by Russia after they were beaten 24 – 7 in the semi final early Monday morning.

Earlier they had played in the Bowl quarter finals losing narrowly to France by 21-24.

Coming on a high of beating New Zealand at the previous round in the previous round in Las Vegas, Benjamin Ayimba’s boys only won their first game in the group stages after mauling Portugal 43-5 with tries from Collins Injera, Oscar Ayodi, Andrew Amonde, Oscar Ouma, Biko Adema, Augustine Ligamy and Samuel Oliech, missing only three conversions from those five-pointers.

Kenya then lost to Samoa by 26-19 and Fiji by 24-19 in their last two Pool A matches to crash out of the Main Cup, leaving them stuck in eighth with 53 points.

After opening with five in Dubai, Kenya racked up 15, 10, 12 and 10 points in the next four rounds in Cape Town, Wellington, Sydney and Las Vegas before failing to live up to the promise in Canada as injuries hit the touring party of the fifth and sixth legs.

Dennis Ombachi (ankle), Billy Odhiambo (ankle), Leonard Mugaisi (wrist) and William Ambaka (ankle) were crocked during the Vancouver stop.

The team is expected to jet back in to the country on Thursday and according to their coach Ayimba, they will rest for a week before joining camp to prepare for the seventh and eighth rounds in Hong Kong and Singapore.

On Friday, the team was hosted by Kenya’s High Commissioner to Canada, John Lanyasunya before the local community in the country hosted them to a farewell reception despite their underwhelming performance.

New Zealand won the inaugural Canada Sevens, beating South Africa 19-14 in the final at BC Place. Australia finished third after they defeated Fiji 19-12 in the play-off.

After the conclusion of the of the first edition of the circuit in Vancouver, Fiji leads with 106 points followed by South Africa on 105 with New Zealand a point adrift in a tight squeeze at the top.

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Benjamin Ayimba Kenya 7s Vancouver 7s HSBC World Series

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