Cape Town 7s: Spirited Shujaa beat Canada to finish tournament in 13th place

The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, picked some valuable three points in the third outing of the 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series held in Cape Town, South Africa as they defeated Canada 10-21 on Sunday evening to end the event in 13th place.

Having failed to progress to the main cup quarterfinals, Shujaa had dropped to the playoff places and found themselves in the 13th place final after beating noisy neighbours Uganda to book their spot in the shield final.

The Damian McGrath coached side ended up getting the job done courtesy of tries from Daniel Taabu, Edmund Anya and Johnstone Olindi.

The team were however made to come from behind to secure the victory as the Canadians went ahead first through Anton Ngongo who evaded his markers down the corner after receiving a brilliant Jake Thiel offload near the line. The conversion attempt however sailed just wide as they went 5-0 up.

Kenya then managed to weather the early Canadian storm as they hit back through Taabu who provided some nice support play to Ronny Omondi in a move that left the Canadians flat footed as Taabu touched down under the posts allowing Anthony Omondi to easily convert as Kenya took a 5-7 lead.

With the new found momentum, Kenya kept on asking questions of the Canadians through well executed scrum moves and they finally got the fruits of their labour after Anya spotted a gap in their backline before bulldozing his way just besides the post, Omondi once again converting to give the team a 5-14 lead at the break.

Brock Webster temporarily reduced the deficit for Canada to 10-14 following an unconverted try but substitute Olindi put the game to bed in the dying minutes with his converted try that sealed the 10-21 victory.

Cape Town 7s Results

Group Stage

Kenya 5-19 Argentina

Kenya 5-31 New Zealand

Kenya 5-5 Spain

Kenya 14-19 Ireland – 9th place Quarterfinal

Kenya 19-5 Uganda – 13th place Semifinal

Kenya 21-10 Canada – 13th place Final