NAIROBI, May 16 – British forces, England and Scotland combined to dump listless Kenya 7s to the Bowl competition of London 7s after handing Shujaa back to back defeats on Saturday, obliterating their hopes of a flying finish to a woeful 2014-15 HSBC World Series.
The home team opened the floodgates on Felix ‘Toti’ Ochieng’s side in the opener, running in 40 unanswered points in the opening Pool C match before the Scots snuffed out any hopes they had of qualifying for their second Main Cup quarters of the campaign by beating them 12-26 in the second tie.
In their final pool game, Kenya’s shame was almost complete when they escaped with a heart-stopping 19-14 victory against the invited outsiders Brazil as the country’s adherent rugby supporters took to social media to slam the limp display.
Shujaa were left with the thankless task of playing for consolation later Saturday against non-core invitees Brazil, the hosts of Rio Olympics who suffered a 56-7 loss in their second match against England.
Ochieng who will now play for eight series points, made a single change in his starting line-up relegating Biko Adema to the bench for Oscar Ayodi.
Scotland’s earlier test by Brazil sparked them into life against Kenya, with Damian Hoyland opening the scoring before Dennis Ombachi found his feet to cut the Scottish lead when he handed off James Johnstone from a Humphrey Kayange pass.
Vice-captain and the country’s leading try scorer, Collins Injera gifted the Scots a second try when Mark Robertson reclaimed the lead with a solo break for a 21-5 lead at the break.
Shujaa returned energetic putting their pace and physical strength into great use and it didn’t take long before Billy Odihambo levelled the score from a Michael Wanjala pass for his 14th try of the season.
Lack of concentration in the breakdown saw Kenya pay the price from tries scored by debutants Hugh Blake and Jamie Farndale as Scotland pushed themselves forward to head to the Main Cup-quarters.
Against England, Ochieng who fielded a strong line-up was outclassed by the home team who grounded three converted tries in the opening half where poor Shujaa was dispossessed.
The hosts strategy of pulling the Kenyans inside before punishing them on the breakdown paid off with Dan Bibby opening the scoring when he dashed between skipper Andrew Amonde and Ombachi as Wanjala missed the tackle to go over from individual effort.
James Rodwell doubled the score two minutes later after maximizing Odhiambo’s knock on before Macus Watson once again made Shujaa pay from Kayange’s poor handing of the ball from the restart for a 21-0 half-time lead.
Ochieng introduced Ayodi, Tonny Opondo, Daniel Sikuta, Agustine Lugonzo and Bush Mwale on resumption but not of them could change the game nor find the try-line.
Watson added his second try after Ombachi missed the tackle before Alex Gray and Tom Bowen completed the rout and extend dominance over Kenya to nine matches and the biggest win since 2012.
Against Brazil, Odhiambo grounded twice with Ombachi adding a third to edge out Brazil who led 14-12 moments before the grace saving try.
