For the third time in the Olympics, Kenya has failed to go past the opening round into the main competition.

On the opening day, the young Kenya squad who were drawn in a tough Pool B alongside Argentina, Australia and debutants Samoa were beaten 31-12 by Argentina and 21-7 by Australia. They were unable to score any points against Samoa losing 0-26 to drop down to the classification matches before a record 69,000 crowd at Stade de France. 

In the ninth place play-off, Kenya edged out Uruguay 19-14 in what was reminiscent of their battle in the World Rugby Repechage Series which Uruguay won and Kenya finished second. Both teams were promoted to the core status after the World Rugby Sevens Series play-off in Madrid in May.

The men’s competition that kicked off before the opening ceremony has had its share of frills and frills. South Africa, the other African side in the competition qualified for the main cup competition as one of the best teams after falling 5-10 to Ireland in their opening match and 5-17 to New Zealand, the silver medalists at the last competition. 

They needed to win their last match against Japan by more than 21 points to have a realistic chance of qualifying. South Africa won 49-5 to book a date with New Zealand in the cup quarter finals. A resolute defense masterpiece saw them reach the medal bracket by beating New Zealand 14-7 in the quarter final.

Hosts France were held to a 12-all draw by the USA in their opening match before edging past a stubborn Uruguay 19-12 and were beaten by the same margin by champions Fiji but reached the quarter final where they upset Argentina 26-14.

Fiji were the form team in the opening two days. They won all their Pool C matches and knocked out Ireland 19-15 in the quarter final to keep their medal hopes alive.

Kenya will face Samoa for the second time in the play-off after seeing off Uruguay. In this match, John Okoth, Samuel Asati and Patrick Odongo scored one try each with Anthony Omondi Kicking over two conversions. Uruguay replied with a try by Juan Manuel and Baltazar Amaya. Manuel and Guillemo Lijtenstein added one conversion each.

In the opening match against Argentina, Chrisant Ojwang and Kevin Wekesa scored one try each and Omondi added a conversion. They leaked five tries with Augustin Fraga scoring a brace while Luciano Gonzalez, Marcos Moneta and Tomas Elizalde added one each. Fraga, Santiago Mare and Joaquin Pellandini landed one conversion each.

Anthony Odongo scored and converted the only try against Australia.

As the men’s competition concludes on Friday, the women’s event kicks off on Sunday. This is a different format from the World Rugby Sevens World Series where the governing body dropped the 16-team format so as to adopt the Olympic format of 12 teams. The change also saw the women’s competition held alongside the men’s over three days. 

Another noticeable change was in the scoring system where matches that ended in a draw proceeded to a golden point play. It will be interesting to see whether World Rugby, after announcing the venues for next year’s World Rugby Series, would consider a stand alone tournament for women and revert to a 16-team format for the men’s teams.

Results

Men

Pool A: New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Japan

Ireland 10 South Africa 5, New Zealand 40 Japan 12, Ireland 40 Japan 5, New Zealand 17 South Africa 5, South Africa 49 Japan 5, New Zealand 14 Ireland 12. 

Pool B: Australia, Argentina, Samoa, Kenya

Australia 21 Samoa 14, Argentina 31 Kenya 12, Australia 21 Kenya 7, Argentina 28 Samoa 12, Samoa 26 Kenya 0, Argentina 14 Australia 22.

Pool C: Fiji, France, USA, Uruguay.

France 12 USA 12, Fiji 40 Uruguay 12, France 19 Uruguay 12, Fiji 38 USA 12, USA 33 Uruguay 17, Fiji 19 France 12.

Cup quarter finals: New Zealand 7 South Africa 14, Argentina 14 France 26, Fiji 19 Ireland 15, Australia 18 USA 0; Semi final:South Africa v France, Fiji v Australia.

Fifth place semi-final: New Zealand v Argentina; Ireland v USA. 

Ninth place semi final: Samoa 42 Japan 7, Kenya 19 Uruguay 14; Final: Samoa v Kenya.

11th place finals: Japan v Uruguay.