Africa 7s 2022: Mwale shines as Shujaa beat Senegal to get title defense off to a perfect start

The men’s national rugby 7s team, Shujaa, got their title defense of the Africa 7s Cup off to a perfect start as they managed to beat West African side Senegal 19-0 in their opening game of the 2022 edition of the tournament.

Heading into the match as the defending champions and the first seed, Shujaa took a bit of time to settle at the Kyadondo Grounds in Kampala, Uganda early Saturday morning as a stubborn Senegal only went into the first half break trailing 7-0.

The only try of the half scored by Kenya Harlequin’s Herman Humwa who, upon seeing a small gap between the Senegalese line, barged his way over to finally calm some nerves with Tony Omondi adding the extras after a successful conversion.

In the second half, a still nervy Shujaa managed to just create some daylight between them and the Senegalese as a brace from Bush Mwale secured the contest.

For his first try, an intelligent Mwale caught the West Africans napping as he picked the ball from the ruck and attacked the blindside where he ran the whole length of the field before landing a centre post try that was easily converted by Omondi to extend the lead to 14-0.

The Homeboyz RFC player would then land his second of the game after collecting an intelligent grabber kick from Omondi who had spotted no defender in the Senegalese backline. Mwale landing the try at the corner to bring the game to a 19-0 full time score following a missed conversion.