Kenya 7s come from behind to draw against France

Kenya Sevens put up a spirited fight in the second half to salvage a 19-19 draw against France in the Emirates Invitational 7s at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai.

Shujaa had a bright start to the game as they bagged the first try through Willy Ambaka who almost ran the entire length of the field to touch down between the sticks as Daniel Taabu converted the try.

Kenya were caught napping in defence as France put two tries past them in the first half to go into the break with a slender 14-7 lead.

France continued from where they left from in the opening half as they bagged another try to extend their lead to 19-7, minutes after the restart.

Innocent Simiyu’s half time team talk seemed to have unleashed the beast in the Shujaa side as they registered another try through Taabu who went on a lung-bursting run from the 22-meter line to make a try on the left flank.

The conversion proved difficult for Taabu as his effort went wide off the mark as Shujaa whittled down France’s lead to 19-12.

Willy Ambaka worked his magic again as he powered through the France defence from the halfway line and again touched down between the sticks with Taabu converting to draw level.

Kenya withered a late storm from France as Johnstone Olindi made a try-saving tackle on the try line with the Les Bleus player knocking the ball over.

Shujaa opened the tournament with a 39-7 win over Chile while France also got their campaign underway with a 21-17 win over Spain in the Blue Pool.

Kenya Lionesses on the other hand suffered back-to-back losses in the tournament after losing to Canada 38-5 and registered a narrow opening loss to Japan 19-14.