NAIROBI, Kenya, June 2, 2024/APO Group/ —
Shujaa are back to the HSBC SVNS for 2025 after defeating Germany 33-15 in their winner takes all playoff match in Madrid, Spain on Sunday 2 June 2024.
Germany, who had defeated the Kenyans twice on the Challenger Series this year went ahead through Chris Umeh’s unconverted try before Tony Omondi converted Vincent Onyala’s try to give Shujaa a 7-5 lead.
It was soon 10-7 after Nicholas Koch’s unconverted effort for Germany before Chrisant Ojwang, back from the sin bin, touched down to give Kevin Wambua’s charges a 12-10 lead at the interval.
John Okoth gave Shujaa the safety cushion try, scoring under the posts with Omondi converting for a 19-10 score and when Maximilian Heid landed a third unconverted try for Germany, the response from Shujaa was two tries from George Ooro and Kevin Wekesa with Omondi drilling home the conversions to confirm the return to the top tier after relegation in May 2023.
The team had earlier defeated Chile 36-7 in their final pool game on Saturday after a narrow 10-5 loss to hosts Spain and a 19-12 victory over Samoa in their opening fixtures on Friday.