Mixed results for Kenya Sevens in Dubai

Kenya Sevens dismantled Chile 39-7 before William “Lomu” Ambaka landed a brace of tries to secure a 19-19 draw against France at the Emirates Invitational Sevens tournament in Dubai on Friday.

Chile took off the blocks first with a converted try to lead 7-0 before Nelson Oyoo finished off Tony Omondi’s move with a try to trail 7-5.

The Kenyans were good in completing the tackles with Ambaka landing the third try of Billy Odhiambo’s effort to lead 17-7 at the break.

Birthday boy Jeff Olouch tore through to score as Johnstone Olindi cashed on Chile’s poor handling of the restart ball to dance all the way.  Daniel Taabu converted to stretch the lead to 29-7.

Substitute Jacob Ojee’s also landed as Harold Anduvate touched down after the hooter to hand Kenya victory.

The Kenyans proved resilient when the Frenchmen pinned them in their half but slowly worked out before Ambaka picked the gap to weave through unchallenged for their try.

But France would benefit from Kenya’s poorly tackling and defence to land two converted tries and take the lead 14-7 at the break. A similar scenario occurred to see France stretch the lead to 19-7 before Taabu sliced through the wing to score and bring Kenya back into the match 19-12.

Ambaka wrote almost a similar script bursting through the middle after some lovely exchange to land and bring Kenya level at 19-19 after a cob conversion.

Kenya was due to meet Spain in their last Pool “Blue” match of the tournament for a place in the quarter-finals. France had earlier beaten Spain 21-17 before Spain recovered to edge out Chile 19-12.

In Pool “Red”, Uganda lost to Argentina and Canada 38-14 and 40-5 respectively. Uganda led 14-12 against Argentina at the break before capitulating. They also pulled away 5-0 at the Canadians before losing heavily.

Kenya Lionesses lost to Japan 19-14 before going down 38-5 against Canada in the women’s tournament.

The Emirates Invitational tournament ends on Saturday.