Amaitsa Hat-Trick Powers Kenya 7s To Opening Victory Against Nigeria
16th September 2023
The Kevin Wambua coached side recorded a 34-10 victory against the West Africans.

- Nygel Amaitsa, who was among the six debutants named in the squad, scored a hattrick.
- Vincent Onyala and Festus Shiasi, who is also making his debut, got the other tries.
- Shujaa next face Namibia at 1350EAT before wrapping day one against Zambia at 1634EAT.
Strathmore
Leos ace Nygel Amaitsa instantly showed why he was called up to the men’s
national rugby 7s side for the first time as he scored a hattrick to help Shujaa
record a commanding 34-10 victory Nigeria in their opening match at the 2023
Rugby Africa 7s Cup being played in Zimbabwe.
In the
tournament serving as the African qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,
Kenya weathered a storming start by Nigeria to get the perfect liftoff in their
quest of making the Olympics for a third consecutive time.
It all
started when co-captains Tony Omondi and Vincent Onyala combined brilliantly
for the opening try which the latter touched down under the posts after a
sublime offload by Omondi who had capitalized on the turnover by Patrick Odongo.
Following a
successful conversion, the Nigerians hit immediately after as they touched down
at the corner to reduce the deficit to 7-5 following an unsuccessful
conversion.
Kenya then
started making their presence felt in the game with Amaitsa showing some clever
footwork that created acres of space for him to easily run into after his man
was left for dead.
That would
signal the start of what was to come as Onyala bagged his brace before Amaitsa
added crossed over the whitewash two more times to complete a perfect first
outing in the national team.
Festus
Shiasi, who is also making his Shujaa debut, completed the scoring act as Kenya
sealed the 34-10 victory in the Pool B opener.
Elsewhere,
there were big results for tournament favourites South Africa and reigning
champions Uganda over Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria respectively.
The 12-team
tournament is serving as the African qualifiers to the 2024 Olympics where only
the winner will book the automatic ticket to Paris, France next year.
The second
and third placed teams will have to go through a final qualification Repechage
tournament in June 2024 where they will join teams from Asia, Europe, Oceania,
North America and South America with the winner of that event taking the 12th
and final slot to the Olympics.
Round 1
Results
Zimbabwe 12-12 Burkina Faso
Uganda 45-7 Algeria
Zambia 31-12 Namibia
Kenya 34-10 Nigeria
Madagascar 43—5 Tunisia
South Africa 39-0 Ivory Coast
Round 2
Fixtures
Zimbabwe v Algeria | 1244
Uganda v Burkina Faso | 1306
Zambia v Nigeria | 1328
Kenya v Namibia | 1350
Madagascar v Ivory Coast | 1412
South Africa v Tunisia | 1434
Round 3
Fiixtures
Burkina Faso v Algeria | 1550
Namibia v Nigeria | 1612
Kenya v Zambia | 1634
Tunisia v Ivory Coast | 1656
South Africa v Madagascar | 1718
Uganda v Zimbabwe | 1740