Kenya Rugby 7s team lose out to Kiwis and Pumas in final IRB Series

By BS Mulavi

Kenya Rugby Sevens team lost to Argentina and New Zealand to bow out of the Main Cup competition during the final round of the International Rugby Board Sevens Circuit in London.

Many had expected a turnaround that would have given the advantage to Kenya, but the team’s poor spell continued arguably in the easiest pool of the tournament.

Kenya lost 14-12 to Argentina and endured a 24-0 defeat to defending champions New Zealands, which dashed any hopes of the side making a late comeback to the season.

Head Coach Mitch Ocholla and his side suffered a setback in the first game of the day trailing 14-0 by the stroke of half time to an average Argentina side. By the time the national team got their act together in the second half to score two tries through Willy Ambaka, time was not on their side for a late comeback as Lavin Asego’s first conversion miss came back to haunt them.

Kenya knew they had a mountain to climb in the second game against New Zealand requiring to beat the overall circuit leaders as well as Russia in order to make it to the Main Cup quarterfinals.

Even though they put up a brave fight against the champions, the Kiwis scored 12 points in each half to easily cruise to their second victory of the game having crushed Russia 49-7 in their first match.

Kenya will now play in the Bowl tournament after they failed to prove they deserve to play with the top eight teams in the world in the Main Cup quarterfinals.

Meanwhile Fiji maintained their 100 per cent run on day one at Twickenham, beating Zimbabwe 29-0 in their second match with two second half tries from Joeli Lutumailagi.

The islanders’ proceeded with a 19-5 victory over Spain, who recently qualified to become a core team on the 2012/13 World Series with Jimilai Naikadawa scoring the opening try of the tournament. Spain caused an upset beating Wales 22-7 in their second match. A win against Zimbabwe in their third match could see them progress to the Cup quarter finals.

Wales and Zimbabwe contested the day’s second match in Pool C with the reigning RWC Sevens champions relying on a late Dan Fish try to separate the two teams in a 19-12 victory against the Cheetahs.