Shujaa lift Challenge trophy, S.A claim top prize

Billy ‘The Kid Odhiambo’s sterling performance led Kenya to a 19-17 win over Australia in a thrilling final played on Sunday as the Shujaa lifted the Challenge trophy in Wellington.

The Mwamba star, who scored six tries at Wellington, led the Performance Tracker with 32 tackles, 20 breaks, 14 offloads and 68 carries to help Kenya remain 10th on 25 points after three legs.

Odhiambo is seven points ahead of the England speedster Norton who is closely followed behind in third by South Africa’s Seabelo Senatla whose try against Fiji in the final made him the country’s top-try scorer at 180 tries.

“We wanted to seep 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,” Collins Injera, the all-time leading try scorer told World Rugby as the Kenyans broke their 15-match losing streak against the Australians.

South Africa claimed the third round of the Sevens Series with a 26-5 win over in Fiji in what was a replay of Saturday’s Pool B encounter.

The Blitzboks again beat the Fijians at the Westpac Stadium to cement their spot at the top of the series standings.

Senatla had a memorable weekend as he was named HSBC Player of the Final, DHL Impact Player, and became South Africa’s top try scorer with 180 series tries.

Scotland finished in third place after beating Canada 28-22 in an epic bronze final, while Kenya won the Challenge Trophy after beating Australia 19-17 in a tense clash on a blustery evening in the New Zealand capital.

South Africa hadn’t won in the Westpac Stadium since 2002 and they had to rally after Joeli Lutumailagi opened the scoring for Fiji, but speedster Senatla levelled minutes later. In the second half, Rosko Specman came off the bench to increase the South African lead before two tries from Ruhan Nel sealed their second tournament win this season.