Kenya salvaged a disappointing performance in the Glasgow leg of the IRB sevens by winning the shield. They did this by beating USA 22-14 and Zimbabwe 24-7 on the final day.

Kenya were under no illusions having been placed in a difficult group. They had opened their campaign by going down 40-7 to England, 28-26 to Australia and 29-14 to USA. On day two they started by narrowly going down 19-14 to Scotland in a match that was played at a breakneck pace.Kenya’s achilles heel was their inability to execute one on one tackles.

Against USA, Kenya were more fluid and showed far more variety in their play. It was their switch plays that yielded the opening try scored by Willy Ambaka. Felix Ayange scored the second try after a rampaging run by Horace Otieno and Kenya led 12-7 at half time. A good move by Biko Adema saw him release Otieno who was stopped yards from the try line and offloaded to Biko Adema. Another rampaging run by Ambaka from 50 yards resulted in another Biko Adema try.

IN the semis Kenya had beaten Zimbabwe 24-7 to earn a measure of revenge.