Injera can’t stop scoring in London
Collins Injera celebrates his World Rugby Sevens Series 231st try at London Sevens on Saturday that made him the all-time top try scorer in the tournament. PHOTO | MARTIN SERAS
What you need to know:
- Kenya only managed three points from their Shield exploits for a final tally of 98 points to finish seventh in the Series.
- All-time top try scorer Collins Injera touched down twice against Russia to take his World Rugby Sevens Series record to 235 tries.
- Kenya lost to Wales 19-21 in Bowl quarterfinal before downing Brazil 38-5 in Shield semi-final.
Kenya Sevens finished the 2015-2016 World Rugby Sevens Series with a disappointing Shield victory at London Sevens after beating Russia 31-7 in the final at the Twickenham Stadium on Sunday.
Kenya only managed three points from their Shield exploits for a final tally of 98 points to finish seventh in the Series, an improvement from last season when they finished 13th with 46 points.
All-time top try scorer Collins Injera continued to hog the limelight when touched down twice against Russia to take his World Rugby Sevens Series record to 235 tries.
However, it’s William Ambaka who drew first blood when he turned his marker inside out before slicing through the middle for the touchdown that Samuel Oliech converted for a 7-0 lead.
Injera then crossed over and Oliech converted before setting up Nelson Oyoo to score the first of his brace after a perfect balance at the middle. Injera, 29, then went for his second try to give Kenya a 26-0 lead at the break, leaving Oyoo to wrap up the victory.
WONDERFUL SEASON
Kenya lost to Wales 19-21 in Bowl quarterfinal before downing Brazil 38-5 in Shield semi-final. “It’s not the way we wanted to end the Series but I give it up to my charges for a wonderful season. This is our best season ever.”
Kenya Sevens skipper Andrew Amonde said: “We need to go back home to recover and look forward to Rio Olympics.”
Injera predicted that Kenya Sevens was on the verge of something special heading into the Olympics in August.
“On a personal level I managed to achieve the goal that I had set when I started playing rugby, but as a team we found ourselves in a difficult situation,” said Injera.
Kenya Rugby Union chairman Richard Omwela said the performance in London was below par considering the team’s show in Singapore and Paris.
“Expectations were that after winning a leg, the team should be good enough to stay at the top. You can’t win a leg and then go right down to the bottom,” said Omwela.
“A Plate semi-final performance in Paris is acceptable after victory in Singapore but what happened in London is unacceptable hence the need to know what went technically wrong,” said Omwela.
Kenya reached the main Cup in seven out of the 10 legs. There best show was in Singapore where they won for the first time, beating Fiji 30-7 in the final. They wound fourth in South Africa and won Plate in Australia.
