The Kenya sevens national rugby team arise after they picked five points at the Sydney Sevens event over the weekend where they were eliminated by Tonga.
Kenya had finished third in pool B behind South Africa and New Zealand who went ahead to set up the cup final, while Shujaa headed to the ninth-place quarterfinals where a 17-12 sudden death win over Spain was crucial for the team to leap to 12th place that was previously held by Spain who were initially tied on 16 points with Kenya on the global standings.
Shujaa only managed five points in Sydney after an improved Tonga side avenged their 33-19 beating by Kenya in the Hamilton 7s, 9th place semis, by winning 26-24 in Sydney to deny coach Damian McGrath charges the chance to collect eight points, but despite the painful exit, McGrath’s boys had already sealed their fate to trade places with Spain.
Kenya is now 12th with 21 points while Spain dropped to 13th with 17 points, Canada remained 14th with 14 points while Tonga and Japan remained 15th and 16th with 12 and 6 points respectively.
Focus now shifts to the February-bound Los Angeles 7s and later in March the Vancouver sevens will be in the offing. Damian McGrath’s coached side will be focused on trading places with 11th-placed Uruguay who held onto the position with 24 points, just three ahead of Shujaa who managed to beat them 24-19 at the pool stage.
