Kenya dropped to the Dubai Sevens Shield following a 24-12 loss to Portugal. They recovered to beat the UAE 35-5 to book a berth in the Shield final against Samoa.
Action from the Kenya v England game on Friday. Kenya lost 19-12. They are however through to the Shield final after beating UAE 35-5 in the semi. They had earlier lost 24-12 to Portugal in the bowl quarter final. They play Samoa in the Shield Final at 4.48pm Kenya time
Their matches thus far
Bowl Quarter Final: Kenya 12 Portugal 24
Kenya kicked off and had hardly touched the ball before Portugal’s Carl Murray put his side 5-0 ahead. Captain Sydney Ashioya then crossed the line to inch Kenya 5-7 ahead but Goncarlo Foro’s effort made sure the Portugese went into the break leading 12-7.
Two tries after the break, first from Foro followed by another from Duarte Moreira, duly converted gave Frederico Sousa’s team a comfortable 24-7 advantage over Kenya.
A consolation effort by Oscar Ouma, scored after the hooter had sounded, only served to make the 24-12 final score respectable as Kenya were relegated to the Shield completion semi-finals against the hosts
Shield Semi Final: Kenya 35 UAE 5
Kenya’s hesitant start, once again gave UAE, the Dubai 7s whipping boys, a dream start as Chris Gregory scored to leave Kenya trailing 0-5. William Ambaka’s double side-step gave him space to race powerfully to the try line and put Kenya level at 5-5. Kennedy Moseti converted to put his side 7-5 ahead.
UAE then conceded a penalty on the Kenya twenty two. Good interplay by the latter was finished off by Sydney Ashioya with Moseti converting for a half-time 14-5 lead.
UAE were handed possession on the restart when Kenya’s kick-off failed to reach the ten-metre line but a knock-on by the home side was snatched by Ashioya who put Ambaka through for his second try, with Moseti’s conversion stretching Kenya’s lead to 21-5.
A mistake by UAE in their 22 gifted Horace Owiti his first try in Dubai and Tony Opondo added another for 35-5 result in favour of Kenya. Charles Kanyi managed two conversions
A good morale-boosting win for Kenya, pitting them against Samoa in the Shield final , going one better than in the Gold Coast.
About Michael Kwambo
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