IRB Sevens: Kenya progress to last 8

Kenya’s first ever trophy at the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Sevens Circuit is beckoning. The road to that dream was well under way when they claimed classy victories against giants Tonga and United States of America before the slip against England.

Mwamba fly half Lavin Asego touched down a brace of tries as Shujaa cleaned up USA 24-7 to storm the Wellington Sevens Cup quarter-finals despite losing to defending champions England 24-10. What consolidated Shujaa’s progress was their early 15-7 victory over Tonga in the Pool C opening match at the Westpac Trust Stadium.

The Benjamin Ayimba charges, who are sponsored by Kenya Airways, now have a battle at hand against Samoa in the quarter-final that kicks off at 4:55am on Saturday. In the other last-eight Cup encounters, England will take on Canada at 5:17am, New Zealand face their trans-Tasman rivals Australia (4:33am) while South Africa will play Fiji (5:39am).

Shujaa started on a back foot against USA to trail 5-7 when Milemoti Pulu crossed over after some brilliant spadework from Paul Emerick who evaded a series of line tackles from Kenyans. Nese Malifa converted for the US. The Kenyans then reacted superbly when Asego outsmarted two defenders in his own half before downloading to Innocent Simiyu who planted corner try at the far corner.

Shujaa completely overwhelmed the Americans in the second half, with quick-footed Asego going for his first try. Asego would later stage some sublime moves with deputy skipper Gibson Weru to see Collins Injera through.

Injera intelligently went for an overhead kick before nipping the ball for his third try of the tournament. It was sheer individual brilliance when Asego picked the ball from the scrum in the dying minutes of play and stepped out well to score his second and final try.

Brace of tries

Against Tonga, Kenya were forced to plough deep into their reserves but eventually triumphed thanks to Injera’s brace of tries as Weru contributed one. Etisoni Hefa managed a try that was converted by Daid Halaifonua but fell short of target.

Kenya were quick off the block against their former colonial masters, warding off the opponents’ charge for an early try. Injera offloaded a neat pass to Benedict Nyambu, who tactfully brushed off a tackle to create a leeway for Weru on the blind side for the try line.

Shujaa were however slow to react and their poor ball handling did them in. They failed to counter a kick-off ball that Dan Caprise collected before making a solo run for the try at the far corner while Chris Brightwell stretched the Britons’ lead to 17-5 on recession with another try.

Anxiety gripped the Kenyan camp when Injera flipped over following a tackle and landed on his head, nearly twisting his neck. But after a check-up by team physio George Odhiambo, he was back on his feet, to a thunderous cheer from the crowd.

But that signalled bad moments for Kenya as an attempted clearance by Asego saw the ball slip, with Caprise latching on it for his second try. Not even Innocent Simiyu’s sun set try could save the Kenyans from defeat.

Friday’s results

Samoa 31, France 19; Argentina 7, Canada 26; England 31, USA 7; Kenya 15, Tonga 7; Fiji 36, Scotland 5; Australia 31, Papua New Guinea 12; New Zealand 29, Wales 5; South Africa 38, Niue 10, Samoa 27, Canada 14; Argentina 19, France 5; England 24, Tonga 19; Kenya 24, USA 7; Fiji 41, Papua New Guinea 0; Australia 24, Scotland 7; New Zealand 49, Niue 5; South Africa 38, Wales 5; France 19, Canada 21; USA 15, Tonga 7; Scotland 34, Papua New Guinea 5; Wales 26, Niue 12; Samoa 33, Argentina 14; England 24, Kenya 10; Fiji 38, Australia 7; New Zealand 19, South Africa 7