Shujaa © KRU
Shujaa © KRU

Shujaa finish sixth in Los Angeles 7s to settle for 12th overall place

Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 29.08.22. | 11:46

Kenya lost the fifth place playoffs to Argentina

The men’s national 7s side, Shujaa claimed a sixth place finish at the Los Angeles 7s after going down 29-7 to Argentina and ended the season 12th overall.

Damian McGrath’s side grew in leaps and bounds in the Los Angeles 7s after improved performances in the Commonwealth Games where they finished joint seventh.

Following wins over England and Scotland in Day 1 coupled by a loss to Samoa, Kenya sealed a place in the Main Cup quarter finals but drew a tricky tie after being matched up against Australia.

Despite the heavy 40-14 score line, Kenya went into the break trailing only 14-7 as their wheels came off in the second half to suffer the deflating loss.

Shujaa however were undone by poor restarts and discipline with skipper Nelson Oyoo being sent into the sin bin for planting an Australian player.

Kenya then booked a date with familiar foes the USA in the fifth place semi finals as they managed to nullify the speed of Perry Baker to seal a memorable 21-14 over the hosts of the tournament.

Restarts again came back to haunt Shujaa as most failed to make the distance and they also unsuccessfully gathered but had the resolve to come from behind in the second half and secure the win.

Shujaa finally met their match in the 5th Place Playoffs as they went down 29-7 to Argentina as again Kenya could not sort out their restart with Sammy Oliech upon his return struggling with kicking.

The sixth place finish saw Kenya settle for a 12th place finish in the overall standings with the improvement offering hopes ahead of the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens slated for Friday 9 to Sunday 11 September in Cape Town, South Africa.

Australia claimed the overall series title for the first time in the history after South Africa who were front runners failed to make the Main Cup quarters.


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ShujaaKenya 7sDamian McGrathLos Angeles 7s

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