Kenya flattens Samoa in Hong Kong Sevens
Kenya’s national sevens rugby team launched its Hong Kong Sevens campaign on a positive note mauling a hapless Samoa 24-0 in the seventh round of the HSBC Sevens World Series that got underway on Friday.
Benjamin Ayimba’s men produced a brilliant display in both halves of the Pool A match, pinning the Samoans in their half throughout the match.
The first try came after Nelson Oyoo received Oscar Ayodi’s off load to make a step and miss a tackle to score on the far left corner. Samuel Oliech converted the try to give Kenya an early 7-0 lead.
Shortly, Collins Injera missed an opportunity to inch closer to Santiago Gomez Cora’s all-time try scoring record of 230 on the series but was denied by some good defence by the Samoans.
KENYA’S DOMINATION
Kenya continued to pin down Samoa by dominating on their half and it didn’t take long for Injera set up Willy Ambaka for the second try which Oliech, however failed to convert.
With Samoa unable to get the ball in Kenya’s half in the first seven minutes, Injera assisted his brother Humphrey Kayange over for another try on the stroke of half-time as Kenya led 17-0. Oliech yet again missed the conversion.
Kayange got his second try in the second half after picking off a loose pass and to race unchallenged and score under the posts for uneasy conversion by Oliech for a full time score of 24-0.
Kenya will next face New Zealand in their second match of Pool A on Saturday at 6:40am, and later face France at 10:20am.
In the other pool match New Zealand needed the first score of the second half to escape with a narrow 19-17 win over France.