On a day of surprises in Nairobi, Argentina and Germany bagged HSBC SVNS 2 gold at the Nyayo National Stadium to take an early lead in the three-tournament race to the HSBC SVNS World Championship series.

The two sides head to next month’s back-to-back tournaments in Montevideo and Sao Paulo with 20 league points under their belts courtesy of their victories.

The leading four men’s and women’s sides after the three HSBC SVNS 2 competitions will head into the elite tri-tournament World Championship series in May and June.

Behind Argentina, South Africa, Spain and China make up the top four in the women’s competition after the opening round; while USA, Kenya and Uruguay are chasing Germany hard in the race for the top four in the men’s rankings.

Argentina off to flying start in back-to-back promotion bid

In the women’s competition, promoted HSBC SVNS 3 champions Argentina claimed the inaugural HSBC SVNS 2 tournament title, despite losing their final match in Nairobi to South Africa in dramatic fashion.

Finishing top of the table in Nairobi means Las Yaguaretés — led by player of the tournament Sofia Gonzalez — will take 20 league points into back-to-back second and third legs of the HSBC SVNS 2 tri-tournament series in Montevideo and Sao Paulo in March.

Women’s player of the tournament Sofia Gonzalez said the title was the result of years of work on the Argentina women’s programme: “We’ve had a really long time to get ready for this [tournament]. 

“We’ve been training for three years with our new staff, and everyone has put in a lot of work, physically and mentally.

We’ve been doing a lot of hard work, so we’re really happy with the outcome. [This is] not a coincidence — it’s because of everything that we've been doing. 

“So now, we’ll go back home and take some time off to recover, because it’s been a really hard weekend — even though we've had a lot of fun and it’s been great rugby, it’s also been really hard on our bodies. 

“So taking the time to recover well and then, in terms of Montevideo, we will obviously look back on our games. Even if we placed first, we still have a lot to work on and try to cut out our mistakes. We’ll focus on that and hopefully we will have the same outcome in Montevideo. We will for sure be going for that first place again.”

South Africa, who finished second after winning promotion from the HSBC SVNS 3 tournament in Dubai, and were the only side to get the better of Argentina all weekend at Nyayo National Stadium, head to South America just two points behind the leaders.

Spain claimed third to take 16 league points, followed by China, with Kenya and Brazil close behind.

Las Yaguaretés, got off to a perfect start in the opening match on day two, as Marianela Escalante darted over for an early score against home side Kenya. 

It was the only touchdown of the game, which became messy and error-strewn — and all the more enthralling – as both sides scrambled to cancel each other out. It ended 5-0, Kenya picking up another losing bonus.

But they came unstuck in a thrilling match against South Africa that went all the way to golden point, after. South Africa’s Nadine Roos missed a difficult conversion attempt from out wide after Patience Mokone’s try more than a minute after regulation time to claim a win. 

More than five minutes later, Roos stripped the ball, and released Maria Tshiremba to race in from halfway to claim the match 17-12. But Argentina’s losing bonus was enough for them to take the inaugural HSBC SVNS 2 tournament.

South Africa had kicked off their day two push to hold on to one of the top two slots in the women’s table with a statement 33-5 win over China. Ayanda Malinga’s 90m solo run was a highlight, while debutant Shannon-Lee Windvogel impressed with a double.

Day one in Nairobi had not gone to plan for Thalia Costa’s pacy and talented Brazil — and Spain made sure day two started just as badly, winning 29-21. Carmen Miranda Miralles scored two of their five tries.

Brazil’s poor form in Kenya continued into a fifth defeat in a row against a new-look China, who leapfrogged them in the tournament table with a 24-5 win. Qian Xin scored a double for China, before Gabriela Lima salvaged a consolation with the final play of the game.

Abril Camacho Ruiz and Denisse Gortazar were the stars for Spain, as they beat host nation Kenya 14-5 in the final match of the women’s tournament to claim a last-gasp third in Nairobi. The home side dropped to fifth, above Brazil.

Germany shock rivals to claim Nairobi title

Surprise Nairobi champions Germany took an early lead in the HSBC SVNS 2 league, claiming the title in Nairobi with a perfect day two run, while day one leaders Kenya and USA both slipped up at Nyayo National Stadium.

Germany kicked off their day with a shock win over USA and doubled down with a hard-fought victory over Belgium, to take the dressing room lead with just Kenya capable of overtaking them in the final match of the day.

But the host nation found themselves up against a tactically perfect USA, who froze them out for most of the two sides’ meeting, which had been eagerly awaited after the two sides had gone unbeaten on day one.

Germany had roared out of the blocks in their opening match on day two to shock USA, who had gone unbeaten on day one, scoring four unanswered tries — two of them for Felix Hufnagel — to claim an astounding 28-7 win. 

More impressive than the tries, however, was their defensive determination, as they kept USA in their own half for almost the entire game before Jack Wendling got a consolation score with the clock in the red.

Tim Lichtenburg’s try-saving tackle then saved Germany at the end of an epic match against Belgium shortly after Jakob Dipper had scored to send them into a 12-7 lead, to take them into a surprise lead. Later results meant that it was one they would not lose..

Kenya had made the most of USA’s shock defeat against Germany to remain the only unbeaten side in the men’s competition with one match to go, beating Uruguay 17-5, courtesy of tries from Chrisant Ojwang, George Ooro Angeyo, and Samuel Mosiori Asati.

But after their surprise defeat to Germany, USA spoiled Kenya’s party with a tactical masterclass in the final match of the day. Lucas Lacamp, the leading points scorer in Nairobi got the scoreboard moving for the Eagles Sevens, with Aaron Cummings and Adam Channel following up before Ooro Angeyo — the men’s player of the tournament — got the crowd on their feet with an 85m consolation.

Uruguay finished their Nairobi weekend on a high, with a comprehensive 41-12 win over promoted HSBC 3 winners Canada to wrap up fourth place and take a big confidence boost to their home tournament in Montevideo next month.

Nico Bulte scored in the last minute as Belgium won a tight and hard-fought battle of Saturday’s winless sides, avenging their defeat in the HSBC SVNS 3 final with a 10-7 victory over Canada.