Double delight for Kenya as Shujaa and Lionesses win the 2021 Safari 7s Tournament

Kenya's national 7s team, Shujaa, have been crowned the 2021 Safari Sevens tournament champions after resolutely edging opponents Germany 12-5 in a fitting final match staged at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday evening.

In the closely contested tie, only two tries from Alvin 'Buffa' Otieno and Johnstone Olindi proved to be enough to get the job done for Shujaa who won the 23rd edition of the tournament and ensured that the Robin Hill Trophy presented to the winners remained on home territory after outgoing champions Kenya Morans were stopped from defending their tiitle in the semis by the same Shujaa that eventually went all the way.

While the game made for a thrilling showpiece all through, it got off to a very tense start fitting of a final tournament game as both sides showed nerves very early on.

From kickoff, Levy Amunga kicked tha ball straight into touch to hand Germany immediate possession without even Kenya having a touch on the ball. Just like Kenya, Germany also did not do anything meaningful with the ball when they had it.

As the game progressed, Shujaa retained theball just a little bit better and that control led to them scoring the game's first try through some bit of creative and well executed play from Olindi. The experienced international showing good pace to collect his grabber kick before offloading to Buffa who touched down beneath the posts and made it easy for Amunga who easily converted to give the top seeded side a 7-0 lead.

However, with the last play in the first half, Germany managed to reduce the deficit as they landed a corner post try that was unsuccessfully converted to get the game to a halftime score of 7-5.

Upon second half's resumption, Germany came off the blocks the quickest as they threatened to take the lead for the first time in the match. They kept the ball well and came close to landing their second try but resolute defense from Shujaa was not letting them through, the national side forcing a turnover to win back possession just metres from the tryline.

With the large crowd at the grounds cheering the home side on, Shujaa just managed to forge ahead through Olindi who sneaked just over the whitewash to extend the lead to 12-5 after Amunga missed the conversion attempt.

That second try from Shujaa just proved to be enough as the team hanged onto their slender lead to be crowned the new champions of the Kenyan tournament.

In the women's side, national 7s team Kenya Lionesses showed their class as they ran four unanswered tries past the Uganda Cranes ladies to emerge 26-0 victors in the final match, a result that ensured the women's gong remained on home soil as Lionesses were crowned the women's 2021 Safari Sevens Champions.