Africa 7s 2022: Lucky Shujaa seal main cup semis despite being stunned by Madagascar

For a moment, the men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, were staring at the possible chance of missing out on the prestigious 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens set to be held in South Africa later this year after their stunning loss to Madagascar on Sunday afternoon.

In that final pool A match played under very wet and slippery conditions at the Kyandondo Grounds in Kampala, Uganda, the Innocent Simiyu currently coached side let slip their 7-0 lead as the Makis came from behind to condemn them to potentially damaging 7-12 defeat.

A patchy Shujaa, who never looked like the team to beat as anticipated, took the lead through a successfully converted Alvin ‘Buffa’ Otieno try but the Madagascans kept their calm and managed two tries, one converted and one missed, as Kenya fumbled with the ball, making too many errors which ended up seeing the defending champions go down in defeat.

Following Kenya’s loss, it meant that both Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Shujaa all had two wins from their three games, needing points differential to be used to determine who would advance out of the group and in what order.

A lucky Shujaa ended just squeezing through as they had a better points differential (+26) compared to Madagascar (+6) who ended up crashing out of the main cup semis as Zimbabwe (+45) qualified top of group.

Should Uganda win their last group match, Shujaa will face the Uganda Cranes in the crucial semifinal whose winner will be guaranteed a ticket to the World Cup.

Saturday 23 April 2022

Kenya 24-19 Zimbabwe

Kenya 33-7 Namibia

Sunday 24 April 2022

Kenya 7-12 Madagascar