Stoic Shujaa rise in HSBC standings after impressive Cape Town show

Kenya’s men sevens team Shujaa moved up two places in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings after finishing sixth in the second round of the Circuit at Cape Town Sevens over the weekend.

Paul Feeney charges finished 13th in the first leg of Dubai Sevens with four points but now have 15 points after collecting 11 points in South Africa.

They reached the main cup quarter-finals in Cape Town for the first time since 2016 where they succumbed to a 12-05 loss against the hosts.

Shujaa was unbeaten in the group stages drawing (24-24) against Ireland and winning the other two matches against Samoa and Australia (24-10) and (14-07) respectively.

Kenya’s winger Alvin Otieno highlighted his side’s performance after excellent ball carries which enabled him to appear in Cape Town dream team.

The other players who have in the past nailed a slot in Cape Town dream team is Willy Ambaka and Shujaa’s top try-scorer in HSBC Series Collins Injera, both attaining the feat in 2016.

Otieno who plies his trade with Menengai Cream Homeboyz has 30 points, the highest in Shujaa squad. He also tops the scoring charts for Kenya with six tries, Mwamba’s winger Daniel Taabu having the most conversions with 11.

The team is expected to land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport tonight, and  will take a break before shifting focus to the Hamilton Sevens in New Zealand and Sydney in Australia next year on January 25-26 and February 1-2 respectively.