Cape Town 7s: Shujaa suffer second consecutive defeat in loss against New Zealand

The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, have all but been eliminated from main cup contention in the 2022 Cape Town 7s tournament following their 31-5 loss against defending champions New Zealand who handed them their second consecutive loss in Group C on Saturday morning.

Having managed to stay in touch at the half time break against the All Blacks as they only trailed 7-5, the Damian McGrath currently coached side were blown away in the second half where the New Zealanders cranked the heat a notch higher with their brilliant attack producing four unanswered tries which propelled them to the victory as their robust defense kept out the uninspiring Kenyans.

The game got off to a slow start with both sides struggling to get going in the opening exchanges. The All Blacks however managed to break the duck when Akuila Rokolisoa found some space in the Kenyan defense which he greatly exploited to give his side a 7-0 lead after he nailed the conversion as well.

In a rare attacking phase, Kenya managed to slash the deficit to only two points when a spirited Billy Odhiambo made a big fend to lose his marker before touching down near the corner for Kenya’s first try which was not converted.

With the new found momentum, Kenya threatened to still a half time lead as they asked questions of the New Zealand defense who stood resolutely firm to maintain their narrow lead at the break.

Upon the second half’s resumption, the clever deep kick on the restart paid off as Kenya failed to clear the lines in time which handed the charging All Blacks easy possession as they denied Kenya any way out.

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From the 5m scrum accruing from their efforts, Roderick Solo stayed out wide and touched at the corner after a great move squared the ball to him, Rokolisoa nailing the conversion to extend the lead to 14-5.

Three more tries from Moses Leo, Brady Rush and Caleb Tangitau ended all of Kenya’s hopes of getting a first win as the All Blacks picked their first win after their shocking 10-14 loss to Spain on Friday.

Following the result, Shujaa now sit bottom of the pile on 2 points with a huge negative points difference with only one game left where they face a Spain side that have four points.

Results

Kenya 5-19 Argentina

Kenya 5-31 New Zealand

Fixtures

Kenya vs Spain - 1526EAT