- Kenya 7s advanced to the main cup semifinals in Singapore after topping Group B.
- Shujaa beat Ireland and France to top their pool.
- It is the first time Shujaa have reached the last 4 this season.
The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, booked a ticket to their first main cup semifinal in the HSBC SVNS Series 2025 campaign after stunning Olympic champions France 10-7 to advance to the last 4 in the Singapore 7s on Saturday morning.
Having beaten Ireland 17-7 in their opening Group B match, the Kevin Wambua-coached side needed nothing short of a win to confirm their place in the historic event that produced Kenya’s first and only main cup title back in 2016 when they stunned Fiji 30-7.
And the win came courtesy of Nygel Amaitsa’s sure boot that nailed a penalty to hand Kenya the narrow win in what was the last play in the closely contested encounter.
In the do-or-die second game, Shujaa drew first blood with Vincent Onyala slicing through the French defence in the third minute as Amaitsa added the extras for a 7-0 lead going into the half-time break.
The Olympic gold medalists would reply soon after the break drawing level through a Quere Kabaka try and Enahemo Artaud conversion.
In the dying minutes of the second half, Shujaa won a penalty 40 meters out, and just like in the 2016 main cup semifinal when the retired Collins Injera surprisingly chose to kick at goal, Amaitsa made the same decision that paid off as he split the uprights to win the game 10-7 and book the team’s first semi final berth since being promoted back to the World series in the 2024/25 season.
Kenya 7s brush aside Ireland
Earlier on, Shujaa opened their campaign with an emphatic 17-7 win over Ireland with an early try and conversion from Amaitsa giving them a 7-0 lead inside the opening two minutes before Kevin Wekesa went over in the sixth minute to extend the lead to 12-0 by the half-time break.
Patrick Odongo would go over the try line in the 12th minute to take the score to 17-0, before Ireland’s Josh Costello went over to make it 17-7 at full-time after Mark Roche’s conversion.
Shujaa’s semifinal opponent will be known later in the day after the last round of pool games with the first Cup semifinal set for 9:34AM on Sunday 6 April 2025.
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