Shujaa fell 12-21 to Japan in the Hong Kong 7s Challenge Trophy semifinal. Japan went first on the scoreboard after sending the ball wide to find Kazushi Hano who stepped his defender to land his side’s first score with the conversion splitting the posts successfully.
Augustine Lugonzo narrowed the gap as he went through Japan’s defense off a scrum and dived over the whitewash for a 7-5 score at the breather. Japan landed two quick tries from the restart through Katsuyuki Sakai and Taisei Hayashi, both conversions went wide.
Off a breakdown, Bush Mwale’s switch pass to Onyala resulted in Shujaa’s second try and Taabu’s conversion brought the scores to 21-12. Shujaa made several visits to the opponents half but the Japanese defense was too strong, they held on to the 21-12 scoreline to the end. Earlier the team had beaten Canada 19-0 to qualify for Challenge Trophy semifinal.
Shujaa bow out of the tournament having picked up five points that brings their total to 23 points.
#Shujaa’s HK7s scorecard
Fiji 22 – Shujaa 5
New Zealand 36 – Shujaa 0
Australia 28 – Shujaa 12
Canada 0 – Shujaa 19 – CQF
Japan 21 – Shujaa 12 – CSF
