TOKYO 2020: Shujaa seal 9th place in Amonde’s swan song at the Olympics

The Kenya men’s national 7s team, Shujaa sealed a ninth place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after an emphatic and impressive 0-22 win over Ireland in a 9th/10th playoff match ensured captain Andrew Amonde was given a befitting send-off on his final Olympic appearance with the team.

The game, played early on Wednesday morning at the Tokyo Stadium, started with the 37-year-old captain racing to the field 50 yards ahead of the rest of the pack as he took in the match that would certainly be his last at the Olympic games for the experienced Shujaa.

Unlike the other games that had seen witnessed costly errors, an impressive first half saw Kenya cut down on mistakes to go into half time leading by a narrow 7-0 scoreline. The only try of the half coming after Johnstone Olindi saw a little gap between two Irish defenders, an opportunity that he exploited in stretching Ireland as he raced for a centre post try that he successfully converted.

Upon resumption of the second half, try scorer Olindi had a defining moment of the game when he recovered just in time with Shujaa well beaten on the right channel as he brought down down Jordan Conroy, one of the fastest men in the sport, as he prevented the man from inflicting any damage to Shujaa.

Jacob Ojee added a second unconverted try of the game after yet another breakdown success by Kenya in what looked almost surreal considering how the team lacked in that department, giving Kenya a 12-0 cushion with three minutes left.

The third try arose very much on the counter-attack after veteran Collins Injera turned over an Irish ball to set Kenya charging down on Ireland, Willy Ambaka finishing off the move with a corner post try. From a scrum, Daniel Taabu cleverly shimmied past a napping Ireland as he added the game’s final and fourth try under the posts but Amonde, handed a rare opportunity to close off his occasion, could not get the conversion right. In the end though, an impressive Shujaa winning 22-0 and sealing ninth place at the Olympics.

Full Shujaa Results at Tokyo 2020

USA 19-14 Kenya

South Africa 14-5 Kenya

Kenya 7-12 Ireland

Kenya 21-7 Japan

Ireland 0-22 Kenya