Kenya 7s

Odongo’s hattrick sends Kenya 7s into Challenger Series final in Dubai

By Mahlon Lichuma

Posted on January 14, 2024

Kenya 7s speedster Patrick Odongo scores. PHOTO/Mike Lee for World Rugby.

Patrick Odongo scored three tries as Kenya 7s qualified for the Challenger Series final in Dubai beating Uruguay 21-5 at the Sevens Stadium.

Kenya will face the winner of the Germany-Chile match in the final slated for 4:33 p.m. East Africa Time.

Kenya 7s flying start

Shujaa entered the match with just one loss, facing off against Uruguay after their defeat to Germany in the pool stage. Eager to make a strong start, they maintained possession, and Odongo executed a clever dummy move off a ruck and raced to score the opening try, which was successfully converted, giving Kenya a 7-0 lead.

Kenya extended their lead when Nygel Amaitsa’s clever grabber kick was skillfully collected by Odongo for the second try of the match, converting it to make it 14-0.

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Uruguay faced a setback as they were temporarily reduced to six players due to a yellow card, and Kenya capitalized on the advantage. John Okoth set up Odongo for his third try, completing a remarkable hat-trick.

Despite a late try from Uruguay, their efforts were not enough, and Kenya secured the victory with their strong performance, making the most of the advantage gained during Uruguay’s temporary numerical disadvantage.

The Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the top level of global rugby sevens for the short format of the game which has experienced huge growth over the past two decades since the introduction of the global sevens series and becoming an Olympic sport at the Rio 2016 Games.

The HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 will take place in three rounds on three continents between January and May, providing a clear promotion pathway to reach the pinnacle of HSBC SVNS in 2025.

The top four placed men’s and women’s World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 teams, based on cumulative series points after the third round, will secure their opportunity to compete in the new high-stakes promotion and relegation play-off competition at the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid on 31 May – 2 June 2024 against the teams ranked ninth to 12^th from HSBC SVNS 2024.