Shujaa drop to 13th place semifinal after heavy All Blacks thrashing

The men’s national rugby sevens side Shujaa struggled to get rid of their woes in the opening outing of the 2023 HSBC World Rugby Seven Series season currently being played in Hong Kong as they succumbed to a fourth consecutive defeat as they lost 43-0 against New Zealand in their 9th place quarterfinal clash staged on Sunday morning.

Having already dropped out of main cup contention following three losses in Group D against Ireland, Argentina and Canada, the Damian McGrath coached side started day three hoping to atone for their fruitless pool exploits.

The team however came undone as a vengeful New Zealand, who had missed out on main cup contention as well after finishing behind Samoa and Australia in Group A, took out all their agony on the Kenyans with the All Blacks dotting down seven unanswered tries with Dylan Colier stealing the headlines with his hat trick in the match.

Captain Sam Dickson, Kurt Baker, Moses Leo and Sione Molia were the other try scorers for the All Blacks who got the perfect balance in attack and defense as they wreaked havoc offensively while silencing the Kenyan players from getting anything on the scoreboard.

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Following the result, Shujaa drop to the 13th place semifinal match where they will come up against newbies Uruguay making their debut in the global circuit following their promotion after winning the 2022 Challenger Series.

The Uruguayans were defeated 19-14 by Spain who will meet New Zealand in the 9th place semifinal.

The Kenya versus Uruguay game takes place at 0805EAT.