Veteran Humphrey Kayange gave Paul Treu’s side hope when he grounded with over 5 minutes of the second half to go but Kenya were turned over cheaply as Australia held on to the slim victory.
Shujaa were to face France in the semi final on the Plate as they seek to end what has been a dispiriting campaign in the season ending round of the 2013/14 HSBC World Sevens Series.
Against Australia, it was not the best start for the Kenyans as Tom Lucas intercepted a pass from Michael Agevi on the half-way line to sprint clear for the first score of the game.
The in-form Sam Myers soon sprinted over for his sixth try of the weekend as Australia danced through Kenya’s defence.
Billy Odhiambo came so close to reducing the deficit by five in an extended final play but desperate Australia defending ensured they had a double-digit lead at the intervals they went in 12-0 to the good.
After the restart, Kayange hot footed the ball down down the right flank after a suspiciously-looking forward pass to give Kenya an all-important first score but the conversion was missed.
It remained a single converted try game as Kenya sat tight in their defence too and with Australia losing out in the breakdown.
Somehow, they manage to hold on, with Kenya looking for that one final break that never came as they advanced to meet England for a place in the final as Kenya set up a clash against France.
Kenya squeezed through the Main Cup quarters on Saturday after holding Scotland 7s finalists, Canada to a 17-17 draw following an opening match win against USA and a narrow loss to Samoa in their opening two games.
- More to come
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