NAIROBI, December 5- An embarrassing 38-0 whitewash at the hands of England following an opening 29-12 loss to Australia saw Kenya crash out of the Main Cup quarters for the second successive HSBC World Series round with a whimper as the Dubai 7s got underway on Friday.
The desert sunshine and a packed Sevens Stadium failed to inspire Paul Treu’s patched-up side to hit the heights in Pool C ahead of their final game against a USA said led by former boss Mike Friday following their Shield final loss in the opening round of the global series in Gold Coast.
Needing to bounce back from an error-strewn opening encounter against the Aussies, Kenya came unstuck against an English side that ran tries almost at will from the off to the last hooter; grounding six without reply in the process to smoulder their dispirited opponents.
Youngster Thomas Bowen, 21, got the rout underway despite the close attentions of Peter Opondo with the subsequent conversion missed and barely two minutes later; the score was brought to 12-0 when Christian Lewis-Pratt went over and converted England’s second.
The fleet-footed Bowen went over for his second to make it 17-0 at the break with the English losing James Rodwell to an ankle injury at half time.
Jeff William’s converted effort and a breakaway try from the dangerous Dan Norton stretched the lead to 31-0 before Phil Burgess who was patched up at half time with after a bleeding head injury completed the rout at the buzzer.
England who beat USA 19-0 alongside Australia who edged out hard-fighting Mike Friday’s side 26-10 advanced to the Main Cup quarters from Pool C to leave Shujaa and the Americans to fight for scraps in their later encounter.
-Sikuta double-
Earlier Kenya launched their Dubai Sevens campaign with a 29-12 loss to Australia despite Daniel Sikuta’s two tries in resistance.
The Aussies who put a cricket bat on their bench in memory of tragic batsman Phil Hughes dominated possession and territory for large spells, racing into a 17-0 lead through a Cameron Clark try brace in between Ed Jenkins effort across the white wash and a James Stennard conversion.
Sikuta would hand Kenya a life line just before half time, getting away from the tackle to score a converted try that brought the scores to 17-7 at the break.
Stennard would stretch the Aussie lead after the break, his unconverted try bring the scores to 22-7 before Sikuta struck again, racing almost 60 meters to score for a 22-12 score.
Australia would punish Kenya at the break down, turning over possession to set up Jenkins who landed his brace, Clarke converting for the 29-12 full time score.