Africa 7's 2022: Taabu the hero as Shujaa stun Zimbabwe in glorious comeback

The men’s national rugby 7s team, Shujaa, turned around a moment of almost despair into a moment of jubilation as they staged an impressive comeback against Zimbabwe to record their first pool win of the tournament in their four member group.

Trailing 7-19 a couple of minutes into the second half, the Innocent Simiyu coached side managed to get three much needed tries that turned around the fixture and covered a very unconvincing performance from Shujaa who are the defending champions and the first seed in the continental tourney.

The national side were the first to get on the board when Billy Odhiambo finished off a scrum move in Zimbabwe’s 22, Tony Omondi adding the extras to get the team 7-0 up.

As if in response, the opponents immediately reduced the deficit to two points as Tanziwandira beat his markers for pace before running all the way and touching down at the corner which made it hard to add the extra two points as the conversion veered slightly wide.

A moment of indiscipline from Omondi then came to haunt Shujaa when the Mwamba RFC youngster made a tackle inside 10m when the opponents were awarded a penalty. With a man adavantage the Zimbabweans added onto their score with two converted tries that got the game to a nail biting 7-19 scoreline.

Africa 7s 2022: Shujaa land tough duels against Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Namibia

Faced with the daunting task of recovery, Alvin ‘Buffa’ Otieno put Shujaa on their way to staging the comeback as Kenya created an overload against Zimbabwe on the right side before rolling in their second successfully converted try that brought the game to 14-19.

Quick thinking from Bush Mwale then restored parity for Shujaa as he quickly tapped a penalty awarded to the team before evading his markers.

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

With the game looking likely to end in a draw, Daniel Taabu bailed out Shujaa as he unleashed a cute dummy that left the Zimbabweans for dead before sneaking through as he landed the fourth try that sealed that hard fought 24-19 win for Kenya, their first in the pool and their second in the tournament after their 19-0 round one win over Senegal.

Shujaa Fixtures and Time

Saturday 23 April 2022

Kenya 24-19 Zimbabwe

Kenya vs Namibia - 1622EAT

Sunday 24 April 2022

Kenya vs Madagascar - 1006EAT

Round 1 Result

Kenya 19-00 Senegal