Kenya Sevens Shujaa’s quest to advance to the HSBC Sevens Series Hong Kong Sevens came to a heartbreaking end following a painful 26-22 defeat to South Africa in the main cup quarterfinals on Saturday, April 18, 2026.
Kevin “Bling” Wambua’s charges slumped to the loss despite taking an early advantage as they sought to get over the seasoned side.
In a fitting response after edging the USA to attain qualification from a tough Group C Kenya started dominantly, with John Okoth scoring the opening try for Kenya after a Vincent Onyala offload.
Dennis Abukuse then powered through the Soring Boks’ defense and crossed the white line to give Kenya a 12–7 lead.
The East Africans sustained the impressive start after the restart, with Kevin “Yoko” Wekesa adding another before Festus Shiasi momentarily putting them ahead 22–14.
South Africa dug deep with strikes from Selvwn Davids, Donavan Don, Quewin Nortje, and Siviwe Soyizwapi, putting them level with minutes to go.
The clash was decided on fine margins late on, after a conversion by Ronald Brown and a last-minute try from Soyizwapi sealed the victory for the Springboks, eliminating Kenya from advancing to the semifinals of the series.
Hong Kong exploits
Kenya’s World Championship mission in Hong Kong started on Friday, April 17, 2026, in a contrasting fashion, with a win and a couple of defeats against Australia and a 28-12 defeat to New Zealand on day one.
Shujaa then showed resilience to bounce back to their winning ways after beating the USA 17-10 on Saturday morning April 18, 2026, after a difficult opening day.
Next assignment
Following the quarterfinal exit, Shujaa moves to the fifth-place semifinals, where they are scheduled to battle France. South Africa advances to face New Zealand in the main Cup semifinals.
Shujaa is pushing to regain a place in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The Springbok Sevens had shrugged off their Friday form a in their quarter-final, and will will face New Zealand at 08h00 (SA time) on Sunday for a place in the final of the opening HSBC SVNS World Championship tournament.
Two tries in the last two minutes got the Blitzboks past the Kenyans, who were leading 22-14 with Selvyn Davids in the sin bin at the time.
Davids was yellow carded for playing the ball on the ground near the SA tryline and Kenya scored from the resulting penalty in what seemed to be a winning buffer given the match situation.
But then the class and urgency of the Blitzboks kicked in.
Quewin Nortje scored from the restart, with the speedster kicking ahead into space and outpacing the defence before regathering the ball to dot down under the posts, and with the Ronald Brown conversion, Kenya held a one-point lead with less than a minute to go.
Tristan Leyds won the restart, and the Blitzboks – who lost their last four quarter-finals in Hong Kong – surged upfield. A couple of penalties later, Leyds put Siviwe Soyizwapi away and the experienced veteran scored the match-winner more than a minute after the clock turned red.
The first half did not quite provide the same drama. Selvyn Davids scored early and Leyds converted for a 7-0 lead, but Kenya struck back with two tries in quick succession to move ahead by 12-7 on the scoreboard.
They then conceded a yellow card for playing Davids in the air through and with the Blitzboks playing the numbers, Donavan Don was given space to run and he finished in style. Leyds converted and leading by 14-12 at the break, the South Africans looked on track.
Two tries by Kenya, and the yellow card to Davids turned the match on its head though and entertained the huge crowd for a grandstand finish.
After a lacklustre performance on Friday the Blitzboks qualified for the quarter-finals with a ruthless display in their final pool match earlier on Saturday, beating Argentina 38-0 to top their pool.
The blow-out score came from a faultless display by Blitzboks, who did everything right – they were clinical on attack and pressed hard on defence.
A red card after three minutes to Martiniano Arrieta also broke Argentina’s momentum, who dropped from first to third on the log after the defeat, swopping places with the Blitzboks.
Some excellent play by Ryan Oosthuizen dominated proceedings in the opening minutes, with the experienced forward scoring a try as well as setting up two more, but this was a team effort of note to score four tries before the halftime hooter and another two after.
