NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – Kenya’s hopes of progressing to the Cup Quarter-Finals at the Olympic Games were slowed down on Monday after they lost their second Group C match, going down 14-5 to South Africa in another match that they would have won on another day.
Davyds Selvin and skipper Soyizwapi Siviwe dotted down two converted tries for the Blitzbokke while Collins Injera scored Kenya’s only try of the game, his second of the tournament.
For a place in the quarter finals, Shujaa will have to convincingly beat Ireland in their third match on Tuesday and hope they rank among the best two third placed teams in the three pools.
Shujaa are currently placed third in Pool C with two points, same as Ireland but separated by points difference.
After running a close game against USA earlier on, Shujaa knew they needed to be astute against an under-strength South Africa to ensure they retain their hopes of progressing to the Cup quarters without having to rely on results from others.
But once again, they started slow with Selvin dotting down under the posts with the conversion slicing the posts.
Shujaa were rattled by South Africa’s fast start with the Bokke running at them and restarting plays quick before the Kenyans could organize.
South Africa were 14-0 up when skipper Siviwe made a brilliant run on the left after an offload from Selvin after Eden Agero had lost possession cheaply. The burly skipper then bumped through two markers before strolling down to the middle, touching down.
The conversion was good as South Africa went 14-0 up.
Shujaa scored their first try through Collins Injera with Agero this time laying the offload for the speedstar after Kenya had won the possession back from a counter rack.
Injera dotted down his second try of the Olympics with his trademark fast paced run. The conversion was wide as the two sides went to the break with a 14-5 score.
Shujaa had a chance to pin South Africa in the second half as they seemed tired, but poor tackling and ball handling was their main undoing as they failed to get the ball over the line.