NAIROBI, Kenya, May 29 – National men’s rugby 7s side faltered in their first match at the third leg of the World Championships series in Valladolid, losing 15-10 to Australia on Friday afternoon.
Henry Hutchison put the Aussies ahead after two minutes, only for speedster Patrick Odongo to restore parity three minutes later.
Dietrich Roache, who had earlier missed an attempted conversion, atoned for that with the second try of the game for Australia to put them into the ascendancy, heading to the interval.
Not to be undone, Shujaa came back guns blazing and were rewarded when co-captain Samuel Asati went over the white chalk to level the scoreline.
Denis Abukuse was unlucky with his conversion, and it proved costly as the Aussies had the last laugh via Roache’s second try in the first minute of extra time.
Shujaa have another chance to make up for the loss in their next Pool A encounter against South Africa on Friday evening (6:08 pm).
