Treu blues as his Kenya punished in South Africa

Dan Bibby (left) of Engalnd tackles Andrew Amonde of Kenya during their rugby match on the first day of the Dubai leg of IRB's Sevens World Series on Decembre 5, 2014. PHOTO | KARIM SAHIB |

What you need to know:

  • South African tactician will be stepping down after the third leg in Port Elizabeth
  • Kenya is staring at relegation, seeing as the 2014/2015 IRB World Series are being used as qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Kenya Sevens coach Paul Treu might not get a flowery exit after his charges lost to Wales and South Africa 5-29 and 7-38, respectively, in Pool ‘A’ of the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens.

The South African, who will be stepping down after the third leg of the IRB World Sevens Series in Port Elizabeth, was due to take on United States later last night in their final pool match but South Africa, winners of the previous weekend’s Dubai Sevens, were destined to top the pool after they had spanked USA 26-0 in their other match.

Treu’s charges were headed for the Bowl category at Nelson Mandela Bay once again, irrespective of the outcome against Mike Friday’s USA.

Kenya have performed dismally this season, dropping to Shield at Gold Coast and Dubai where they lost in the final, their only wins coming in Australia and Dubai Shield semi-finals.

STARING AT RELEGATION

Kenya is staring at relegation, seeing as the 2014/2015 IRB World Series are being used as qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics. While the top four will get automatic tickets to the Games, the rest will go through regional qualifiers.

Looking to repeat their top eight performance in Dubai, a Luke Morgan double set the Welsh up for a 17-5 lead over Kenya in the first stanza. Lee Williams and Jason Harries tries extended the lead to 24 points in the second.

Leading try scorer after round two of the series, Seabelo Senatla, set South Africa on course for an emphatic victory when tore away for the first try after the start. After four minutes, Branco du Preez added another try, having crossed in the right corner, and a further try to Cecil Afrika came as Kenya skipper Andrew Amonde was sin-binned for a high tackle. Another Senatla’s try took the hosts 26-0 at the break.

A defensive error saw Kenya get their try through Jacob Alee but that was quickly cancelled out by tries from Werner Kok and Rayno Benjamin.

Against USA, Senatla opened the scoring after finishing off a sweeping backline move for a 7-0 lead then followed it up with stout defence at the other end to hold out the opponents.

In his 62 consecutive series appearances, Frankie Horne was denied a try on half-time after the movement was called back for a forward pass, but the hosts scored three unanswered tries in the second half to record a 26-0 win.