Kenya men’s 7s rugby team better known as Shujaa and China women’s 7s team came out on top in Dubai following a thrilling start to the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 at The Sevens Stadium.
Shujaa suffered a pool-stage defeat, to Germany, but showed their class on Sunday – 14th January 2024 – as they overcame Uruguay 21-5 in the semi-finals to book their spot in the finals. Kenya’s danger man Patrick Odongo who has been in electric form all weekend scored all three Kenyan tries against Los Teros Sevens and added another two in the final as Chile was beaten 12-7 in Dubai.
Shujaa wins safari sevens 2023 edition.
After this win, it means that Shujaa leads the nascent men’s standings with 20 points, two points ahead of runners-up Chile, while bronze final winners Uruguay are third with 16 and Germany fourth with 14.
Kenya women’s team the Lionesse on the other hand fell to a majestic Chinese side who served up perfect revenge having been beaten by Lionesses in the group stages. After this defeat, the Lionesses finished the series second with 18 points behind China with 20 points.
China flew off the blocks with their opening try of the match and a conversion to lead 7-0. They quickly scored their second try through with Kenya visibly out of breath and barely surviving. Kenya rallied back to score a try of their own through although they couldn’t get the extra two points via conversion. China put the game to bed late in the second half by scoring another try to secure the title. China was making a Main Cup final appearance for the first time.
Shujaa needed a top-four finish to stay in contention for a promotion playoff berth at the end of the season and they are well on course after claiming victory in the opening leg.
The Challenger 2024 moves onto Montevideo for the second of three rounds (between 8-10 March). The top four teams in the standings at the end of the third round in May will take their place alongside the bottom four teams from HSBC SVNS 2024 in the promotion-relegation tournament at the Grand Final in Madrid.