Shujaa go down 31-7 to GB in rocky Rio 2016 start

Kenya rugby sevens Shujaa got off to a shaky start in their quest to medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics when they were outclassed 31-7 by former colonial masters Great Britain on Tuesday evening in Brazil.

GB ran in five tries to extinguish the threat of the two-time World Cup Rugby Sevens semi finalists who reignited hopes at the start of the second half when Billy ‘The Kid’ Odhiambo went over for Kenya’s only converted five-pointer.

Speaking after the opening defeat, Shujaa coach, coach Benjamin Ayimba turned his sights on a better showing against New Zealand at 11:30pm (+3GMT) Kenyan time who were stunned by Japan 14-12 in the following game.

“GB interrupted their game plan especially in rucks, they were faster and took advantage of our few individual mistakes.  Our center was not that good. However, we have been in worse situations and we shall bounce back against New Zealand.

“I shall make a few changes and see how it goes in our second game. It’s now an uphill battle and I’m not worried I believe we still have room for improvement,” the man who led Kenya to the semi final of the Rugby Sevens World Cup in Dubai in 2009 said.

“Japan’s win has complicated issues in our group,” the Shujaa boss said of the monumental upset of the side seeded last in the group.

It was a perfect start for GB who fielded players from England, Scotland and Wales in their line-up.

First, Dan Norton evaded Oscar Ayodi and flew down the left-wing to score before James Rodwell offloaded and put Phil Burgess in for their second.

Kenya were going route one but Team GB had found the space out wide to inflict the damage.

GB’s impressive start continued, as captain Tom Mitchell sent a beautiful floating pass out to the hands of Dan Bibby to touch down.

Then Bibby added the conversion and with the last play Mark Bennett confidently flew down the right-wing after a dummy created the opportunity to add a fourth try for 24-0 at half time.

At the start of the second half, quick hands and offloading in the middle of the park gave Odhiambo the ball to work with and he out-sprinted Six Nations star Mark Bennett to score their opening points.

GB’s hard work in the first half is paying off as were keeping possession and winding down the clock. Dan Bibby took the outside line and sealed the victory with another five-pointer.

Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward told World Rugby:

“Team GB could have kicked it out and taken a 17-0 lead at half-time but they chose to put on one of their set-plays, and executed it really efficiently. That was really impressive. This was an awkward fixture to start off with, but Great Britain have started so well.”