Edmonton 7's: Shujaa off to a flyer against Chile

Kenya Sevens national men’s side, Shujaa got their Edmonton 7s tournament off to a perfect start as they put Chile to the sword with a 36-5 victory. 

Shujaa arrived into the tournament brimming with confidence after finishing second in the Vancouver 7s and were firmly in contention for their maiden World Series title.

Despite a poor kickoff once again, a facet of the game they struggled with in Vancouver, Shujaa turned over possession with Billy Odhiambo offloading the ball to Nelson Oyoo who raced to touchdown with Daniel Taabu adding the extras.

Poor handling errors meant that Kenya had to wait for two minutes before their next try as Willy Ambaka picked up the ball after Chile spilt the ball forward to run half the length of the field and add five points but the conversion was missed.

Ambaka completed his first-half brace as he used brute strength to slice through the Chile defence like a hot knife on butter as Shujaa went into the halftime break with a 19-0 lead.

Chile had a perfect start to the second half as veteran Felipe Brangier just about touched the ball down despite Oyoo’s best efforts to muscle him out of the field of play but missed the conversion from a tight angle

Innocent Simiyu brought some fresh legs in the closing half and the replacements weaved their magic as Harold Aduvate offloaded the ball to Mark Kwemoi to touch down in between the sticks.

After some sustained pressure, Alvin Marube ploughed through the Chile defense to grab his first try of the tournament following his debut try in the World Series in Vancouver.

With points difference likely to come into play in Pool C, Timothy Mmasi added a try a minute after the hooter sounded to hand Kenya an emphatic 36-5 win.

Kenya next face Spain at 11:04 PM (EAT).