Shujaa Left in Spot of Bother After Back-to-Back Defeats in Valladolid

Kenya Sevens have it all to do if they are to finish in the top eight at the third leg of the World Championships series in Valladolid, Spain.

Shujaa lost their first two group stage matches against Australia and South Africa on Friday to leave them desperately needing a big win over Great Britain to revive their hopes.

Kevin Wambua’s side opened their Valladolid campaign with a 15-10 loss to Australia, having allowed their rivals to score a late try, when it looked like the match could end 10-10.

In their second encounter, it got tough for Kenya as they took on South Africa where they lost 14-0. Shujaa were let down by a number of handling errors which handed possession to the South Africans.

One of them led to the first try when Shilton Van Vyk stole the ball from Shujaa and made an easy run to the try line, his effort converted for 7-0. Kenya would get a chance to restore parity when Patrick Odongo made a good run forward and when he was tackled, he passed to Vincent Onyala.

However, Onyala made a mess of the pass, failing to catch it properly and the chance disappeared when he was free out wide.

South Africa would take a 7-0 lead to the break and upon resumption, it got worse for Kenya as Denis Abukuse was sin-binned for an aggressive off-the-ball tackle. South Africa would use the numerical advantage to punish Shujaa when a pass to Sebastian Jobb, free out wide on the left, saw him make a solo run to the try line for a converted try.

There was no coming back for Kenya as time had run out by now, defeat leaving them bottom of Group A with one point from two games with South Africa and Austria each on six and Great Britain having two.

Kenya have it all to do against the Britons on Saturday morning as they need to win to revive their hopes of a top eight finish given they must maintain this standard in all three legs to earn promotion back to the World Series.