Kenya 7s missed out on a place in the quarter-finals of the Bordeaux 7s after suffering a 14-5 defeat to Great Britain in their final Pool A match on Saturday at Stade de Bordeaux in France.
The defeat means Shujaa will now shift their focus to the placement matches as they seek to earn enough points to remain ahead of Great Britain and the USA in the race to secure their HSBC SVNS core status.
The three sides have an upper hand having progressed to quarter-finals, with between six and 20 points available depending on their final positions. For Kenya, the maximum number of points they can collect in Bordeaux is four.
Needing a victory to keep their quarter-final hopes alive, Shujaa fell behind in the fifth minute when Charlton Kerr crossed over for Great Britain’s opening try. Roan Frostwick added the conversion to hand the Britons a 7-0 lead.
Great Britain doubled their advantage three minutes later through Finley Lloyd-Gilmour, who raced over for their second try. Frostwick was once again successful with the conversion as the Britons took a comfortable 14-0 lead into the halftime break.
Kenya struggled to break down the British defence for much of the contest but eventually got on the scoresheet in the closing stages through Patrick Odongo Okong’o, who touched down in the 14th minute.
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However, David Nyangige missed the conversion attempt, leaving Shujaa with too much ground to recover as Great Britain held on for a 14-5 victory.
The defeat capped off a difficult pool campaign for Kenya, who had also suffered losses to Fiji (31-12) and South Africa (26-5) in their opening two matches.
Shujaa therefore finish the pool stage without a win and miss out on a place in the quarter-finals of the third and final leg of the 2026 HSBC SVNS World Championship Series.
Kenya will now turn their attention to the ranking matches as they continue their battle to secure one of the remaining places among the 2026/27 HSBC SVNS core teams, with the final standings set to be determined in Bordeaux.
