Kenya Sevens rugby team Shujaa suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of Argentina and France early on Saturday morning at the Vancouver Sevens, the fourth leg of the 2024-2025 Sevens World Series.
Coach Kevin Wambua’s men lost 24-0 to three-time Vancouver reigning champions Argentina in their first match of Pool ‘A’.
Argentina controlled possession and the pace of the match from kick-off, keeping Shujaa on the back foot.
Despite several promising breaks, Kenya struggled to convert their opportunities into points in an error-strewn performance.
Marcos Moneta scored a hat trick of tries for the South Americans with Joaquin Pellandini adding a try and two conversions.
Argentina's Luciano Gonzalez hands off Pettersan Amaitsa during their pool match at the HSBC Vancouver Sevens on February 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Despite showing signs of improvement, things got worse for Kenya in their second match as they went down 33-7 to France.
Stephen Martin scored two tries for France with Simon Desert, Gregoire Arfeuil, and Celian Pouzelgues added one each.
The French made four successful conversions through Enahemo Artaud (two) and Martin and William Iraguha (one apiece).
Speedster Patrick Odongo scored Kenya’s consolation – his 12th of the season - when France was already enjoying a 19-0 lead. Anthony Omondi converted the try.
Kenya will face Great Britain in their final match of the pool on Saturday at 10:58pm. The last time the two teams met was on December 8, 2024 during the Cape Town Sevens when Kenya triumphed 32-17.
Kenya's Vincent Onyala is tackled by Celian Pouzelgues of France during their pool match at the HSBC Vancouver Sevens on February 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Shujaa are bottom of the pool with no point. Argentina tops the pool with 6 points after defeating Great Britain 19-14 in their second match. Great Britain is second on four points after they stunned France 26-7 and before losing to Argentina. The French are on third spot with three points from one win and a loss.
Shujaa has now lost 10 consecutive matches against Argentina including nine in the Series. Kenya’s last success against Argentina was a 24-19 win in March 2019 during the USA Sevens.
Shujaa’s record against the French has also gotten worse as they are now on a six-match losing streak in the Series. Their last win against the French was 26-15 victory in Spain in 2022.
Kenya was relegated from the series at the end of the 2022-2023 season and regained the core status after one season out in the cold.
