Kenya 7s keep head above water in Singapore

France's Sacha Valleau (second left) fights for the ball with Kenya's Daniel Taabu during their Singapore Rugby Sevens quarter-final match in Singapore on April 14, 2019. PHOTO | ROSLAN RAHMAN |

What you need to know:

  • London in May and Paris in June complete intriguing season
  • Relegation threatened Shujaa beat Spain in 13th place play-off to collect three points in Singapore

Kenya collected three points from Singapore to remain 13th on the World Rugby Sevens Series table with two rounds remaining to the end of the season.

Kenya Sevens have 26 points and are barely safe from relegation with the London leg on May 25-26 and Paris leg on June 1 to 2 wrapping up the 2018-2019 season.

Kenya, the 2016 Singapore Sevens champions edged out Spain 21-5 in the final for 13th place play-off, a result that saw them stay two places above relegation.

Wales and Japan who are battling relegation just like Kenya, are placed 14th and 15th with 25 and 22 points respectively.

Relegation will be looming for these three nations where the team that will finish 15th after the end of the Series in Paris will be relegated with Ireland taking up their position for the 2019-2020 Series.

Wales collected five points from Singapore after losing 33-12 to Scotland in the Challenge Trophy semi-final, a results that saw them swap the relegation spot with Japan, who Kenya beat 31-24 in the semi-final for 13th place.

Notably, South Africa did Kenya big favour in the race for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when they turned on the style, incredibly rallying from 19-0 down at the break to silence Fiji 20-19 in the Cup final.

It was drama as the Blitzbokke denied Fiji back-to-back titles in Singapore at the National Stadium.

As a result the Blitzebokke stayed in fourth place in the series standing with an improved tally of 121 points to enhance their chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Summer Games. The top four finishers of the series this season will gain automatic qualification to the Tokyo Olympic Games.

South Africa have a 14-point cushion over fifth placed England (107).

1 USA 145

2 Fiji 142

3 New Zealand 130

4 South Africa 121

5 England 107

6 Samoa 87

7 Australia 80

8 Argentina 79

9 France 71

10 Scotland 62

11 Spain 47

12 Canada 41

13 Kenya 26

14 Wales 25

15 Japan 22

16 Chile 6