Pain and disbelief as Kenya blow a 26 lead to lose to Scotland!

Pain and disbelief as Kenya blow a 26 lead to lose to Scotland!

Bernard Ndong in San Francisco, USA

Their dejected faces told it all!Kenya were heading back to the changing room still trying to process what had just happened after their second game at the Rugby World Cup Sevens at the AT and T park in San Francisco, USA.

Shujaa were firmly on course for the championship quarterfinal after leading Scotland 26 – 0 for the better part of their round of 16 match and only needed to consolidate that lead with 4 minutes remaining to the end of the game.

That advantage came crumbling like a house made of cards as the Scottish, despite being on the brink of defeat made one of the comebacks of the tournament so far scoring 31 unanswered points with Shujaa seemingly hitting reverse gear.

The wheels came off when Herman Humwa gifted Scott Riddel , after his pass was well read by the Scotland captain who intercepted the ball to score his side’s second try following a solo effort by Harvey Elms who scored the opening try.

Before those those two tries, Shujaa were brimming with confidence after Jeoffrey Oluoch, William Ambaka, and Collins Injera had touched down four times with Samuel Oliech and Eden Agero adding the extras.

The 26-point cushion looked unassailable, but a lot can happen in a game of sevens; two yellow cards reduced Kenya to five men as Samuel Oliech and Samuel Ngethe were sent off for two infringements. The numerical disadvantage left a gaping hole in Shujaa’s defence, which Scotland capitalized on mercilessly to snatch a 31 – 26 victory from the jaws of defeat.

A visibly dejected Innocent Simiyu faulted his team’s mental frailties and poor game management.

“ We lost it mentally at some point, having a 26 – 0 lead with 4 minutes to play, to be exact 3 minutes and 52 seconds to play, it was a game we should have sealed, we gave away easy tries, got picked up some two yellow cards,”he charged.

For Scotland, they couldn’t believe their luck when they realized Kenya were imploding despite having a massive 26 points lead.

“When they were down to six men and I think five men we built up on the intensity and then to five it paid dividends to us and we were clinical. It’s pretty dark when you are 26 points down, but with the boys you have on the pitch, there’s massive belief, you know you can score 30 points in five minutes. We trusted each other  and it really paid off today,” an elated Robbie Fergusson who converted two of Scotland’s tries told Citizen Digital after the game.

Kenya will now lick its wounds and face Ireland/South Africa at 12.04am on Sunday in the Challenge quarter finals.

Tags:

kenya Shujaa Innocent Simiyu USA Scotland AT and T park in San Francisco blow lead Rugby World Cup Sevens

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