Shujaa face another herculean task in Hamilton 7s after landing bigwigs

The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, once again find themselves within a difficult group in the fourth outing of the 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series set to take place in Hamilton, New Zealand in January 2023 as the Damian McGrath currently coached side were grouped against Oceanic giants Fiji, Samoa and France in Pool A.

Samoa go into the tournament on the back of an impressive showing in Cape Town where they defeated New Zealand 12-7 to lift the main cup title that propelled them to the top of the Series standings after the third outing of the season while Fiji are always one of the teams to beat in the circuit.

France are also currently enjoying a good season as they are in seventh place on 38 points, only nine behind nine behind leaders Samoa while Shujaa wallow in the relegation playoff spot of 14th having had a dismal start that has seen them garner only nine points so far.

New Zealand are in Pool B with Great Britain, Australia and invitation team Tonga while Pool C includes the USA, Uruguay, Ireland and Japan. South Africa, winners in Dubai last weekend, are in Pool D with Argentina, Spain and Canada.

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The women’s pools see Olympic champions New Zealand drawn in Pool A alongside Great Britain, Fiji and invitation team Papua New Guinea.

Australia are in Pool B with France, Canada and Japan while the USA, who will be aiming for their third straight podium finish, are in Pool C with Ireland, Brazil and Spain.

The Series takes a festive break before returning in Hamilton, New Zealand on 21-22 January and Sydney, Australia on 27-29 January as the race of Series glory and Paris 2024 Olympic qualification continues.

How have Shujaa performed so far?

The McGrath coached side had a woeful start to the season as they finished last in the season opening outing held in Hong Kong back in November where they finished in last place, garnering only one point after losing all its matches.

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In the second outing that took place in Dubai, Shujaa managed an 11th placed finish where they took five points for their exploits.

In the recently concluded Cape Town 7s, the team finished in 13th place which gave them three points leading to a total of nine points after the three outings.