Kenya thrash Canada 33-10 to start Hong Kong 7s on a winning note.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6- Kenya picked up from where it left at the Vancouver Sevens last month, opening their HSBC Sevens World Series seventh leg in Hong Kong with a 33-10 victory over Canada on Friday afternoon.
Shujaa ran in five tries, four of which were converted as they claimed their highest ever victory over Canada to go top of Pool B ahead of Spain who stunned Australia with a 17-12 victory in the group’s opening match.
Shujaa will next play Spain at 8:10am on Saturday morning before finishing off their group campaign against Australia at 12;10pm.
Willy Ambaka’s 100th career try headlined the brilliant performance from Innocent SImiyu’s men who had a rusty start and had to come from behind.
Sammy Oliech, Andrew Amonde, Collins Injera and nelson Oyoo contributed the other tries.
Canada broke the deadlock through Connor Braid who dotted down on the left with Injera’s last ditch effort forcing the referee to go up to the Television Match Official (TMO) who confirmed the try. The conversion was wide.
Kenya though had an immediate response, Oliech picking up the ball after the Canadians failed to hold on to their own restart, storming away on the right before crossing over.
Amonde ensured Kenya went to the break tails up with the second try bumping away his marker before dotting down under the posts after Injera had started a penalty quick catching the Canadians off their feet. Oliech added in the extras for a 12-5 lead.
-Second half-Â
Nelson Oyoo
Early in the second half, Shujaa were reduced to six men after Nelson Oyoo was sent to the sin bin and Canada made most of it, dotting down their second try of the game after Harry Jones offloaded a line out quick to Pat Kay who dotted down.
The hopes of a Canadian comeback were thwarted when Injera crossed over for his career try and what a brilliant one it was.
Billy Odhiambo’s beautiful offload mid air found Injera already on his feet and with a little dummy created space to storm down under the posts.
The conversion was good as Kenya went 19-10 up.
Ambaka then turned up for his 100th career try which places him third on kenya’s top try scorers, blazing his way under the posts much thanks to work from Oyoo who ran on the left and pulled away two Canadians with him.
At the buzzer, Oyoo capped off the wonderful evening for Kenya with a fearless run down the middle, caring less of the chasing pack to dot down. Eden Agero added in the twos, Kenya enjoying a blistering start.
