Wasteful Shujaa lose two opening Vacouver sevens fixtures

The Kenya sevens national team continued with their disappointing run in the HSBC sevens series with two losses in their opening fixtures in the ongoing Vancouver Sevens, Canada.
In the opening fixture against Olympic champions Fiji, the Damian McGrath-coached side could not maintain their defensive line as the Fijians showcased their offloading skills to stage a comeback for a 31-12 win.
Alvin Otieno would pick up a loose ball before slicing through the Fiji defence to offload the ball to Kenya Harlequins’ utility Herman Humwa to score a beauty of a try which the flyhalf failed to convert for the extra points.
The Fijians would capitalize on the Kenyan mistakes and missed chances to score a try through Josese Batirerega with Waisea Nacuqu successfully converting to add the extras and take the lead.
Just before the intervals, Manueli Maisamoa set up Anasa Qaranivalu to take the scores to 12-5 with the centre referee indicating half-time break.
Kenya forward Alvin Otieno would level the scores at 12- 12 after a superb run from a ruck that the Kenyans had orchestrated.
Shujaa failed to showcase their prowess by conceding two successive penalties that would see Fiji take the scores to a 19-12 lead after a run of beautiful offloads.
With two minutes left Jeremaia Matana scored two successive tries for his side to seal a deservingly win for the Olympic champions.
In their second fixture of the ongoing Vancouver sevens, Shujaa lost 12-26 to Great Britain, a match that saw Kevin Wekesa and Edmund Anya touch down as Tony Omondi added a conversion.
Up next is a match against Uruguay at 11.20pm EAT on Saturday 4 March 2023.