Kenya needed a win or a loss by a bonus point against Australia in the deciding Pool A match to proceed to the cup quarter finals of Dubai Sevens, the opening tournament of the World Rugby Sevens World Series. 

A different Kenya team from the one that narrowly lost 19-24 to France in the first match on extra time and the one that edged out South Africa 22-17 in the second stepped on the pitch.

They lost 14-31 to Australia to drop to the lower tier where they will face Ireland in the ninth-place semi final play off. 

It was an uninspiring contest lost in the set pieces and physicality by an Australian team that came out with purpose. They exerted pressure from the kick off and pinned Shujaa in their half. A relieving kick by Kenya ended in a lost lineout that resulted in the first try by Michael Icely. 

Spilled ball

Hayden Sergeant was next over after Kenya spilled the ball from the restart.

There was a moment of brilliance when Samuel Asati executed a clever kick after spotting no cover for the Australians. Patrick Odongo gathered and scored under the sticks to narrow the gap 10-7 in Australia’s favor. 

A yellow card to George Ooro saw Sergeant complete his brace for a 17-7 lead at half time. Until this point, Kenya were still in contention to dent New Zealand a sniff of the last eight. But, Nathan Lawson and Henry Hutchinson dotted down to stretch the lead 31-7. Although Ben Salem, one of the outstanding players on the opening day scored a late try, the damage had already been done and Shujaa will now fight for scraps in the lower category.

Kenya 19 France 24

In their opening match, Kenya conceded a try in the second minute when Gregoire Arfeuil scored and Paulin Riva converted for a 7-0 lead. But, the lead changed hands when Ooro and Odongo scored two tries within a span of two minutes and Nygel Amaitsa slotted both conversions for a 14-7 lead. 

Celian Pouzelgues replied for France in the 11th minute to narrow the scores 14-12 in Kenya’s favor. The lead exchanged hands when Ali Dabo replied for France with a try in the 13th minute and Enahemo Artaud converted for what appeared to be a 19-14 winner. 

But, Ben Salem defiantly scored in the last play to tie the scores for the match to proceed to extra time. Bado broke Kenya’s hearts with a golden try in extra time to snatch the win.

Kenya 22 South Africa 17

Shujaa needed a win in an all-Africa affair against South Africa, the five-time champions in Dubai in the next match. South Africa had opened their campaign with a 17-0 win over Australia. 

Kevin Wekesa broke the deadlock with a try in the second minute, Amaitsa added the second in the fifth and Odongo in the seventh. Amaitsa managed one conversion. Tristan Leyds replied with a try for South Africa in the ninth minute. He converted before Donavan Don added the second in the 11th minute. 

Leyds completed his brace in the 14th minute before Amaitsa matched the feat with a try in the 16th minute for Shujaa to confirm that their win over South Africa in the Africa Sevens champions was not a fluke.

In their final Pool A match, Don scored the winning try against France in sudden-death to top the Pool.

Highlights

Fiji bounced back with a 42-20 drubbing of USA while Uruguay shocked Ireland 26-14. In their opening match, Fiji rallied to edge out Spain 21-15. Against the Ireland., Mateo Vinals scored two tries in the fourth and 10th minutes, Diego Ardao in the sixth and Ignacio Alvarez in the 14th. Juan Manuel, Alvarez and Guillermo Lijtenstein kicked over one conversion each.

Josh Costello scored two tries for Ireland in the third and 13th minutes with Ed Kelly converting both tries.

Spain upset New Zealand 26-15 in one of the upsets in the men’s category.

In the women’s category, Japan opened their campaign with a comprehensive 40-5 win over Canada before falling 12-36 to New Zealand and narrowly beating Brazil 14-12 to qualify for the cup quarters. New Zealand topped this group unbeaten.

The new-look U.S. team met their match in France losing 5-14 despite beating Great Britain 26-15 and Spain 33-7. Debutants China completed the day with a narrow 15-14 win over Fiji.

Teams in Dubai

Women: New Zealand, Australia, France, USA, Canada, Fiji, , Ireland, Great Britain, Japan, Brazil, Spain and China.

Men: Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Fiji, South Africa, Great Britain, USA, Spain, Uruguay and Kenya.

Day one results

Women

Pool A: Australia, Ireland, Fiji, China.

Ireland 30 Fiji 12, Australia 52 China 0, Ireland 31 China 21, Australia 42 Fiji 7,  Fiji 14 China 15, Australia 24 Ireland 5.

Pool B: France, USA, Great Britain, Spain.

USA 26 Great Britain 15, France 12 Spain 24, USA 33 Spain 7, France 12 Great Britain 14, Great Britain 24 Spain 12, France 14 USA 5 

Pool C: New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Brazil

Canada 5 Japan 40, New Zealand 33 Brazil 5, Canada 38 Brazil 12, New Zealand 36 Japan 12, Japan 14 Brazil 12, New Zealand 38 Canada 5, 

Day two order of play

Women

Cup quarters: Great Britain v Japan, Australia v Canada, New Zealand v Ireland, USA v France.

Ninth place semi-final: China v Fiji, Spain v Brazil.

Men

Pool A: France, South Africa, Australia, Kenya.

South Africa 17 Australia 0, France 24 Kenya 19, South Africa 17 Kenya 22, France 14 Australia 10, Australia 31 Kenya 14, France 19 South Africa 24.

Pool B: Argentina, Ireland, Great Britain, Uruguay.

Ireland 17 Great Britain 22, Argentina 45 Uruguay 7, Ireland 14 Uruguay 26, Argentina 22 Great Britain 5, Great Britain 31 Uruguay 10, Argentina 29 Ireland 7.

Pool C: Fiji, New Zealand, USA, Spain.

New Zealand 28 USA 12, Fiji 21 Spain 15, New Zealand 14 Spain 26, Fiji 42 USA 20, USA 0 Spain 26, Fiji 21 New Zealand 12.

Cup quarter finals

Great Britain v Spain , South Africa v New Zealand, Fiji v France, Argentina v Australia.

Ninth place semi-final: Uruguay v USA, Kenya v Ireland.

2024/2025 World Rugby Sevens World Series venues and dates

Dubai: November 30- December 1, 2024.

Cape Town: December 7-8, 2024.

Perth: January 24-26, 2025.

Vancouver: February 21-23, 2025.

Hong Kong: March 28-30, 2025.

Singapore: April 5-6, 2025.Los Angeles: May 3-4, 2025.