Kenya Sevens drop to Challenge Trophy despite France win
Dan Norton of England scores a try against South Korea at the Rugby Sevens tournament in Hong Kong on April 7, 2017, making him the all-time leading try scorer in World Sevens Series history. PHOTO | ANTHONY WALLACE |
What you need to know:
- Shujaa had earlier faltered early Saturday when they were crushed 35-10 by South Africa, a day after a shock 17-14 loss to Canada 17-14 in the Pool B outing.
Kenya Sevens edged out France 29-12 but the win could not rescue them from dropping to Challenge Trophy at the Hong Kong Sevens on Saturday.
Shujaa had earlier faltered early Saturday when they were crushed 35-10 by South Africa, a day after a shock 17-14 loss to Canada 17-14 in the Pool B outing.
Unlike in their previous matches against Canada and South Africa, things looked easy for Shujaa against the Frenchmen when Frank Wanyama and Dennis Ombachi evaded some tackles to score and Samuel Oliech converted one for a 12-0 lead.
Jean-Pascal Barraque brought the French back into the game with a try but Wanyama completed his brace to put Shujaa ahead 17-5 at the break.
It was evident that France missed the experience and expertise of their skipper Terry Bouhraoua, who exited from the duel with an injury.
Eden Agero easily claimed the restart ball to glide through to score and convert his own try as Kenya led 24-5.
Lack of concentration by Shujaa saw Jonathan Laugel break through to score as Stephen Parez converted to close in at 24-12 only for Billy Odhiambo to finish off with a try that Brian Tanga missed to convert.
Both Kenya and France failed to qualify for the Cup quarters with South Africa and Canada going through. Canada had beaten France 28-14 before losing to South Africa 26-7.
Australia and England qualified from Pool A while Fiji and New Zealand pulled through Pool C to the Cup quarters. Also storming the Cup quarters are United States and Argentina from Pool D.
NORTON BREAKS RECORD
Meanwhile, England winger Dan Norton scored the 245th try of his career to become the world's all-time top try-scorer in Hong Kong on Friday.
The 29-year-old winger touched down under the posts against South Korea to break the record held by Kenya's Collins Injera, who was also in action on day one of the seventh round of this season's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Norton, who had equalled Injera’s record of 244 tries at Canada Sevens in February, stretched his tally to 246 tries in their 12-10 victory against Samoa on Saturday. He failed to score as his team lost 12-10 to Australia in their last pool match.
Speaking after breaking the record, Norton said: "It was a nice feeling. The hardest thing was trying to control my mind this week and concentrate on the process that got me here in the first place. It was always nice to get it out of the way."
