It's Kenya verses Germany in do or die promotion and relegation playoffs
Rugby
By
Washington Onyango
| Jun 01, 2024
It’s official.
Kenya Sevens will play Germany in the winner takes it all HSBC SVNS Series promotion and relegation playoffs on Sunday from 6.20pm East Africa Time.
Shujaa booked the Germans after thrashing Chile 36-7 in a one sided final preliminary match to finish second in Group B.
Kenya played Chile, Spain and Samoa in Group B to complete the round-robin matches that will be used to determine the ranking in each pool ahead of the cross-pool matches against Group A.
Group A has USA, Uruguay, Canada and Germany.
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During the cross-pool matches, which will be qualifiers for the 2025 HSBC SVNS, the winners will book a ticket as a core side while the losers will drop to the 2025 Challenger Series.
According to the schedules, the top ranked team in Group A will play the bottom ranked team in Group B while the second ranked team in Group A face off against the third ranked team in Group B and vice versa.
By finishing second, Kenya automatically booked Germany who finished third in Group A.
In the match, John Okoth scored a brace to lead Shujaa to victory despite speed star Patrick Odongo hobbling out with a suspected injury.
Okoth got Kenya off to a good start after breaking from his own half to score at the right corner post before repeating the same trick almost immediately after the restart for a 10-lead.
Chile managed to pull back with a converted try from Cristobal Game, narrowing the gap to 10-7.
Okoth made another strong carry but this time on the left wing before Anthony Omondi took the attack forward before offloading to Chrissant Ojwang who powered over the line under the posts for a converted try, extending Kenya’s lead to 17-7 at half time.
In the final half, it was a total Kenyan show as Samwel Asati, Vincent Onyala and George Ooro sealed the win.
Meanwhile, Spain who topped Group B will play Canada who finished fourth in Group A in the other playoff finale as Group A winner USA battle Samoa who finished bottom in Group B.
Second placed Uruguay from Group A will play Group B third placed Chile.