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Shujaa were relegated after defeat to Canada in the Relegation Playoffs.
Former Kenya 7s captain Dennis 'Iron Man' Mwanja has expressed his displeasure at Shujaa being relegated from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after the side lost 12-7 to Canada in the winner-takes-it-all play-off final in Twickenham on Sunday.
The Kenya Lionesses' head coach took to social media to vent his frustration at those who “returned the team to dust” after taking it away from “the people who built it with blood, sacrifice and love” after their core status was taken away from them.
“They took away the game from the people who built it with blood, sacrifice, and love and it's now gone back to dust! One day you will learn that there's a science around this. I was in the team that took Kenya to the core status (at the) same ground 19 years ago. It hurts Kenya Shujaa,” he said on his Twitter page.
Shujaa had been a core team in the series since 2003 but ahead of the recently concluded season, the core teams were reduced from 15 to 12.
Relegation left the team with work cut out, and their woeful start to the season was compounded by the fact that players had gone for months without receiving allowances.
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05:00 - 22.05.2023
RUGBY Shujaa relegation: How Kenya Sevens shot themselves in the foot
Kenya surrendered their prestigious top flight status following their relegation from the World Rugby Sevens Series on Sunday but they had it coming
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba revealed how shocked he was that the Kenya Rugby Union had failed to pay the players their allowances speaking to Citizen TV last November.
The CS accused the previous board of “lacking accountability” after he found out that players were requesting online funding.
“Our desperate situation has now forced us to turn to you, our global community, to help us in raising funds. The money raised will be split among the boys to help settle some of our pending bills - We need your assistance,” Willy Ambaka said in a tweet.
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19:40 - 21.05.2023
HSBC 7s series: End of an era as abject Shujaa relinquish World Rugby Sevens core status
Canada took advantage of Shujaa being down to six men in the second half following a yellow card.
Although a shirt sponsor came back on board in December, their rather indifferent performances meant that their incentives were not appealing, and it forced some of the side’s experienced players including Ambaka to retire.
This left the side having to rely on a core of talented but inexperienced players, and they were naturally culpable to making mistakes, which left the side to clutch onto their last straw which was the playoffs in London last weekend.
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17:51 - 20.05.2023
RUGBY Wekesa with another hat-trick as Shujaa down Tonga to keep survival hopes alive
Kenya Sevens won their second straight match in the World Rugby Sevens Series relegation playoff.
You can therefore understand Mwanja’s frustrations calling out “those who took away the game”.
He is currently overseeing the national 15s women’s side in Madagascar at the ongoing Rugby Africa Women’s Cup. The Kenya Lionesses defeated hosts Madagascar 29-20 in their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup First Division clash in Antananarivo on Saturday afternoon.
In his time with Shujaa, Mwanja scored 57 tries for the side
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