Team Kenya suffered a blow at the race for gold in the sevens rugby games yesterday. The endeared Shujaa team is in group C with Great Britain, Japan and New Zealand. Game one at Deodoro stadium in Rio ended in disappointment as Shujaa lost 31 -7 to Britain. It took Britain 5 Tries and 3 conversations to cement a win on their first game of the group. Shujaa walked off with a last minute try from Billy Odhiambo and a conversion from Biko Adema. The loss was attributed to Shujaa defense errors right from the kick off. Hope was still high as the team saw a redemption point to come three hours later.
Second game was against New Zealand and that went south as well. All blacks had 14 points to five by the first seven minutes. Second half saw an extra two tries against Kenya to make the total score 28-5. Hope was high that Kenya would dominate that match riding on the fact that All Blacks team had lost two players in their match against Japan. Collins Injera made the only touchdown for Shujaa on that match.
The next match Shujaa faces Japan and hope to grab a win. It will not be an easy task as Japan beat New Zealand 14 to 12. They had a tight game against Britain losing 19-17. That gives them a total of 31 points while Kenya stands at 12 points. Its common logic that for team Kenya to proceed to the next round, they need to make tries as many times as possible and earn over 40 points in that game.
Kenyans on twitter had mixed feelings but were largely disappointed with the team’s show. Some tweeps are of the opinion that the team lacks young blood and was not well prepared. They never had prep matches before travelling to Rio. All in all everyone wants the team to bring home some medals and kill the myth that Kenya wins at individual performances like track and field.
As the Team motto states, The Hunt Is On. We wish them all the best tomorrow.
