Kenya Sevens whacked hosts Canada 33-14 to claim bronze as the Edmonton Sevens ended at the Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday.
Alvin “Buffa” Otieno signed off in style with a brace of tries as Kenya Sevens, who landed five tries and four conversion against Canada’s two converted tries, triumphed to also finish third overall in the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series.
Skipper Nelson Oyoo, William “Lomu” Ambaka and Billy “The Kid” Odhiambo supplemented Otieno’s exploits with a try each. Brennig converted Alex Russell and Jake Thiel tries, but failed to tame the superior Shujaa.
South Africa completed a double when Muller du Plessis and Siviwe Soyizwapi scored a brace of tries each to beat Great Britain 24-12 in the final to win gold and lift the Series title.
South Africa, who won the Vancouver Sevens the previous weekend, topped with 40 points followed by Great Britain, who had claimed bronze in Vancouver with 34 points.
The Canadians beat Kenya, who also won silver in Vancouver, on superior aggregate after they tied with 34 points each.
Kenya Sevens coach Innocent “Namcos” Simiyu thanked the Ministry of Sports and fans for supporting them in Vancouver and Edmonton.
“It has been a tough and exciting outing in Canada,” noted Simiyu, adding that they started started well in Vancouver, but lost to South Africa twice with execution especially in kick offs and defence costing them.
Kenya lost to Blitzboks 33-13 at the group stage and 38-5 in the final in Vancouver.
“We tried to work on these key areas going into Edmonton but it also didn’t work against South Africa in the semi-final,” noted Simiyu.
Moving forward, Simiyu said they will have to work and train hard, besides coming up with new strategies.
“We need to know how to handle pressure when meeting top sides and just build on our performance from Canada,” said Simiyu.
The 2021 Series was to head to Singapore on October 29-30 after Canada, but the leg was cancelled owing to Covid-19 challenges.
However, the 2021/2022 World Rugby Series will start in Dubai on December 3-4 followed by Cape Town Sevens on December 10-12.
World Rugby Sevens Series core teams New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, Australia, and France failed to take part in Vancouver and Edmonton Sevens over similar Covid-19 issues.
The 2019/2020 World Series failed to end with four legs due to Covid-19.
New Zealand were declared winners after six legs having won in Cape Town, Hamilton and Vancouver to lead with 115 points. BY DAILY NATION