Kenyan Billy Odhiambo touches down against Brazil.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 11- Kenya Sevens wiped off the shame of a disastrous performance at the Rio Olympics with a 24-0 win over hosts Brazil, a result that saw them finish 11th among the 12 teams that participated.
Strathmore Leos centre Billy ‘the kid’ Odhiambo grounded a hat-trick of tries to aid Kenya into the win, a consolation of an otherwise poor performance that has seen them drop off medal positions following a winless outing in group C.
Straight from kick off, Dennis Ombachi laid off to Odhiambo, who managed to dart past Brazilian bodies to touch down at the corner on the left.
Brazil, buoyed by the enthusiastic home crowd laid an ambush in a bid to cut down the 5-0 deficit but Willy Ambaka managed to race down and win back possession with Daniel Sancery heading for the try line after an offload from namesake Felipe Sancery.
Before the break, the 23-year old Odhiambo picked up the ball from a skillful offload by skipper Andrew Amonde to race through the middle and touch down under the posts to stretch Kenya’s lead to 10 with Sammy Oliech converting for a score of 12.
After the break, Ambaka got his name on the score-sheet after a daunting run on the left pushing away Stefano Giantorno on the way to take Kenya’s tally to 17.
The impressive Odhiambo dotted down his third try of the evening after Kenya won the ball from a scrum on the left with Biko Adema spreading the ball wide to Collins Injera who easily offload to Odhiambo.
The hosts had a late chance for a consolation but Laurent Couhet knocked on the ball five meters from the try line, Kenya picking possession from the scrum and running the clock down to get the morale boosting win.
