The South Africa And Kenya Sevens rugby team started the Paris 2024 Olympics on a losing note with defeats to Argentina (31-12) and Ireland (10-5) respectively on Wednesday.
The Springbok Sevens, who were bronze medallists at the maiden event during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, fall behind to the Irish in Group A through tries in either half from Jordan Conroy and Terry Kennedy.
Selvyn Davids however halved the deficit for the South Africans with his try in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Sevens team could not match the power of the Argentines even after going ahead in their Group B opener.
A try from Chrisant Ojwang and a conversation goal from Anthony Mboya put the Simbas in front early on but Pumas pulled one back not long after through Agustin Fraga’s try.
Argentina dominated the second half with a second try from Fraga followed by two conversion goals from Joaquin Pellandini and a solo from Santiago Mare. Further tries came courtesy of Tomas Elizalde, Luciano Gonzalez and Marcos Moneta.
FT scores#Shujaa 12 – Argentina 31#Olympics #TeamKenya.
Our next game kicks off at 8:00pm against Australia. pic.twitter.com/bcQX5gU8uO
— Shujaa (@KenyaSevens) July 24, 2024
Kevin Wekesa scored the final consolation try for the Kenyans.
The action continued later in the day with Kenya losing 21-7 to Australia and South Africa losing 17-5 to New Zealand.
