Kenya slump to Challenge Trophy again in Canada

Kenya Sevens avoided one of the major upset in the World Rugby Series when they rallied from behind 19-0 to beat Chile 26-19 in their last Pool A match of the Canada Sevens at dawn on Sunday.

That victory proved useless as it failed to save the Kenyans from being relegated to Challenge Trophy once again, having blown away a chance of advancing to the medal championships after losing to England and South Africa 28-14 and 15-5 respectively.

Kenya found themselves at the back foot when Chile, who had not won a World Rugby Series match in seven years, ran in three tries inside the first four minutes.

However, the man top of the all-time try scorers list, Collins Injera, reduced the deficit.

Tries from Eden Agero, Samuel Oliech and Frank Wanyama would save Kenya the embarrassment as they finished their day one action on a good note.

Kenya are due to play Scotland in Challenge Trophy quarterfinal at 8.30pm on Sunday.

Innocent Simiyu, Kenya head coach, said he was disappointed with his charges after a poor show against England and South Africa.

“That was hard work against Chile, but a win is a win, and now we can take that into the Challenge Trophy,” said Simiyu.

South Africa claimed their 36th consecutive Cup quarter-final in Vancouver. Astonishingly, they have won 29 of their 31 matches on this season's tour, but their two defeats have both come against England. The two teams drew 12-12 in their last Pool A match.

The Blitzboks, fresh from their fourth tournament win of the series in Las Vegas, started out with a 33-0 win over Chile with Dylan Sage showing his quality once more scoring two tries.

A 15-5 win against Kenya, with tries from Rosko Specman, Chris Dry and Ruhan Nel, set up a showdown for top spot in Pool A with England, a team they lost to in the Cape Town final last December.

Dan Norton scored twice for England, while Specman and Sage continued to clock up tries for South Africa, and at full time it was 12-12, enough for South Africa to take top spot in Pool A.

England's match against Kenya earlier in the day stretched Simon Amor's side to the limits, but Dan Bibby and Norton were able to score a try apiece to take the game away from the, finishing up 28-14.