On Thursday 25th July, Shujaa faced Uruguay in the 2024 Paris Olympics 9th place semifinal at the Stade de France where they won 19-14 in a dramatic encounter.
Uruguay landed the first converted try in the first minute through Juan Manuel Tafernaberry and the score remained 7-0 until the break. The second half saw Shujaa up their game as they sent the ball wide to find a fast John Okoth who sprinted down to land a corner post try, Tony Omondi superbly slicing the uprights. The team’s hunger for a first victory at the Paris 2024 Olympics games was evident in their attacking pace. An infringement by Uruguay in their 5M mark saw Samuel Asati dive over the try line to land a converted center post try; Shujaa then leading 14-7 with two minutes on the clock.
An illegal tap of the ball by John Okoth saw him sent to the sinbin and with a one-man advantage, Uruguay landed their second converted try in the final minute for the full time score to read 14-14. It being a knock out match, the teams proceeded to extra time where the first score would secure the victory. A skewed line out by Uruguay resulted in a scrum penalty to Shujaa who spread the ball wide to Patrick Odongo who landed Shujaa’s winning try.
Speaking on the teams performance so far, this is what Shujaa Head Coach had to say, “Lots of positives and learnings that we have picked up in the couple of games we have played. The first two games we showed a good account of ourselves with a young inexperienced squad. There was a lot of hunger and determination just unlucky we couldn’t close them out how we wanted.
In the Samoa game a little bit of nerves led to rushed decision making which led to errors that cost us.
The last game against Uruguay I think there was much better control and composure even with the yellow card and we were able to get our first win.
We will do some video reviews to improve our restart receipt and just see how we can clean up our attack/defence Frameworks and situational awareness to have better control both sides of the ball.
Mood is good at the moment after that win which acts as a moral booster and boys are really eager to put their best foot forward to try and bag their second win of the tournament.”
Shujaa will play Samoa in the 9th place playoff on Saturday 27th July at 6:00pm EAT.
