by Ben Ayuko
{image by Supersport}
The Rugby 7s Olympic circuit in Paris began on the 24th of July. 2024 and honestly, it is not looking good for Team Kenya.
There were 2 games played on the first day.
First up was Argentina.
Kenya actually started off well with an early try, after 3 minutes, after some individual brilliance from Chrisant Ojwang. Argentina hit back before the break to level the score, save for missing their conversion.
It was a relatively tentative first half and the second half started in more or less the same fashion as both teams were not looking to give the other an inch. It was, however, only a minute into the second half when Argentina struck again, after some good play down the wing. Kenya was not to be outdone though as we hit straight back a minute later. A good turn over in midfield saw the Shujaas launch a counter-attack, Kevin Wekesa showing some good hands to hold onto an offloaded pass by Ojwang and touch down in the try box.
This is when the game changed though, as a series of unnecessary errors allowed Los Pumas to attack constantly and eventually overcome our defensive line.
31-12 the final score as Kenya started off the Olympic games on the back foot.
The second game against Australia…
…did not fare any better.
Australia began proceedings, running into the try box after some individual brilliance from the attacker.
Kenya hit back after some quick thinking from Anthony Omondi, first to kick the ball into space behind the Australian defensive line. And second to take a quick penalty while the Australian defense was still readjusting and sailing over the tryline to level the score.
Australia hit again just before halftime to go into the break with the lead.
The Shujaas mounted a serious challenge to Australia in the second half but could not break their defenses. Australia managed to keep us at arms length and then, just before the final whistle, they hit us again guaranteeing their victory.
21-7 the final score, leaving Kenya with it all to do in our last game against Samoa.
The last game was against Samoa
This one was difficult to watch.
We needed a hefty score line against the Samoans in order to book a place in the next round of fixtures. But it was not to be. We looked tired, uninspired and devoid of ideas.
The game had only just begun before Samoa went over for their first try. We picked ourselves up and tried to take the game to Manu Samoa, but they held us at arm’s length. Things were made worse by the concession of a thoroughly avoidable yellow card for a needle offense, just before halftime. 5-0 at the break.
Samoa came out energized and their one-man advantage proved pivotal as they scored their second try with barely a minute on the clock. Things were looking dire.
Kenya tried to fightback with the likes of speedster Patrick Adongo and try scorer, Chrisant Ojwang, but to no avail. And because of the desperation in our attack, we left ourselves open to counter attacks.
2 more tries for Samoa and one more yellow card for Kenya as the game ended 26-0, condemning the Shujaas to an early flight back home.
That also made it 3 losses out of 3 for Team Kenya.
It was a tough tournament for us. All that’s left now is for head coach, Kevin Wambua (dp), to regroup with the troupes and prepare for the next outing.