NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 30 – Paul Murunga’s target of staring his managerial role on a high with the Kenya Sevens team was thwarted after seeing his charges lose the opening two matches at the Dubai 7s on Friday.
Shujaa kicked-off on a wrong footing, falling 14-35 to Scotland before going down 17-21 to France and drop to the Challenge trophy even as they wait to face overall series defending champions Fiji in their last Pool B match.
After a tough first half, and finding themselves 14-0 down at the break, Kenya fought back with Dennis Ombachi bagging a double and another try from Johnstone Olindi to lead 17-14.
However, Jerome Daret’s men kept their composure to score a third converted try and bag their first win of the new season.
The defeat means Kenya’s chances of qualifying for Cup quarters are very slim. It was Kenya’s second defeat of the day after going down 14-35 to Scotland in the earlier match. Last match is against Fiji at 6.06pm.
-Lionesses bow out-
Their women’s counterparts the Kenya Lionesses finished 12th in the 2018 Women’s Dubai7s tournament.
They trailed Fiji 12-0 in the second half of the eleventh place play off before Janet Okello roke the Fijian defense to score Kenya’s solitary try. Fiji dotted down their third try in this final at the buzzer securing their 19-5 win.
Earlier in the Challenge Trophy Semifinal, Lionesses lost 24-7 to Spain while Fiji suffered a narrow 10-12 loss to China.