Woeful Kenya take beating in Dubai
Kenya lost all its Pool C matches at the HSBC Sevens World Series, as the team’s dismal run in the competition this season spilled over to the Dubai leg of the circuit on Friday.
Not even a much improved all round performance in the final pool match against USA could spare Kenya a 26-17 loss against the determined Americans who are currently handled by former Shujaa coach Mike Friday.
This outcome, coupled with a 38-0 thrashing at the hands of England and a 29-12 spanking by Australia in the day’s earlier games, relegated Paul True’s side to the Bowl tournament.
Carlin Isles raced from his own half whilst evading a couple of tackles from a feeble Kenyan defence to score the opening try for the Eagles in the first minute, before Madison Hughes converted moments later to stretch USA’s lead to 7-0.
MISPLACED PASSES
Isles and Hughes combined moments later to add a second try and conversion respectively, before Mwamba forward Daniel Sikuta intervened by maneuvering through the opposition defence to score Kenya’s first try.
USA overpowered Kenya in the consequent half, in the process forcing 12 misplaced passes of Treu’s charges, and were already out of sight by the time Sikuta and Dennis Muhanji scored two late tries.
In the earlier contest, Australia had set the benchmark for a woeful day for Kenya as two tries apiece by Cameron Clark and Ed Jenkins, aided by successful conversions from Clark and James Stennard was enough to award the Thunderbolts a straight forward win.
Daniel Sikuta was one of the few bright spots in what was a justifiably sloppy game for Kenya, with the Mwamba RFC player touching down twice either side of the break. Samson Onsomu converted one of the tries.
Not even a myriad of discontent on social media could spur a reaction from team Kenya in their next fixture against England that kicked off at exactly 1:14pm.
CLUELESS KENYA
In this match a clueless Kenya conceded a try after every two minutes enroute to slumping to a 38-0 drubbing.
The Englishmen touched down within the opening 90 seconds through 21 year old Thomas Bowen before Christian Lewis-Pratt capitalized on a misplaced pass from Peter Opondo to score the game’s second try and consequent first conversion a minute and a half later.
Bowen then danced through Kenya’s porous backline that included Micheal Wamalwa and Kizito Mangeni to convert his second try of the game that extended the Englishmen’s advantage to 17 points.
After the break, additional tries from Dan Norton, Phil Burgess and Jeff Williams ensured England joined South Africa, Fiji, Wales and Argentina in the Main Cup quarters scheduled for Saturday.