Kenya Sevens, known as Shujaa, put behind their group stage disappointments to stun Uruguay 19-14 in the ninth-place semifinal playoff on Thursday night.
The victory marked a significant turnaround for the team, which had been knocked out of the Paris Olympic Games after losing all their preliminary group matches to Argentina, Australia, and Samoa.
Shujaa began the tournament on Wednesday with a disappointing 31-12 defeat at the hands of Argentina before losing to Australia 21-7.
Their poor run continued on Thursday afternoon, with a 26-0 thrashing by Samoa in the final pool match they needed to win to stand a chance of making it to the quarterfinals as one of the best losers. Shujaa finished bottom of their group with three points.
The tournament format divides teams into three groups of four. The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, advance to the quarterfinals. Winners of the quarterfinals move on to the semifinals, while the losers compete in a match for third place.
Teams eliminated in the quarterfinals play in a mini-tournament for 5th to 8th places. The worst third-placed team and the last three teams in the group face off in the 9th to 12th place matches.
In the ninth-place semifinals, Juan Manuel Tafernaberry scored the first try, which was converted for a 7-0 halftime lead to Uruguay.
However, Kenya came back much more aggressively in the final half. John Okoth raced clear to score in the left corner, and the scores were tied at 7-7 after Tony Omondi converted from a tight angle.
Shujaa scrum-half Samuel Asati’s quick thinking saw the slippery KCB star catch the South Americans napping with a quick tap and go before diving over the whitewash, giving Kenya their first lead at 14-7 after Omondi added the extras.
With a minute left on the clock, Shujaa’s indiscipline problems, which had been witnessed during the preliminary matches, came back to haunt them again after Okoth was sent to the bin. Baltazar Amaya scored the try off the resultant scrum, and Guillermo Lijtenstein converted to send the game to extra time.
In a winner-takes-all situation, Shujaa speedster Patrick Odongo, who had been silent since the tournament’s start on Wednesday, announced himself to the audience at Stade de Paris by scoring a beautiful winning try to send Kenya to the ninth-place playoffs.
The rugby games will take a break on Friday to pave the way for the opening ceremony. Kenya will renew their rivalry with Samoa in the ninth-place final playoff on Saturday. Samoa knocked out Japan 42-7 in the other ninth-place semifinal.
