Kenya Sevens trounce Portugal in Paris

History-chasing Collins Injera landed a brace of tries as Kenya Sevens rallied from 0-14 down to tame Portugal 29-14 in the opening match of Paris Sevens on Friday at Stade Jean-Bouin.

Injera is now three tries adrift of leading all-time try scorer Argentine Santiago Gomez, who has 230.

The Mwamba RFC player will be looking to go top when the Singapore Sevens champions renew their rivalry with Russia and World champions New Zealand at 11.30am and 3.03pm respectively in Pool “A”.

Kenya’s other tries came from Samuel Oliech, William Ambaka and Humphrey Kayange. Injera and Oliech made a conversion each.

Portugal started strongly with tries Nuno Guedes converting his own try and Aderito Esteves’ for a 14-0 lead. Injera crossed the line but Oliech missed the conversion as Kenya trailed 5-14 at the break.

A good exchange between Ambaka and Injera saw Oliech finish it off with a try but missed the conversion as Kenya closed in at 10-14. Injera weaved through at the middle to score and give Kenya the lead 17-14 before Ambaka and Kayange wrapped up the proceedings.

Kenya and Russia have met four times with the Kenyans winning thrice. Their first meeting was in Wellington where Kenya won 24-10 in the preliminaries before snatching a slim 24-21 victory in the group stages in Las Vegas.

The Russians would extract revenge, winning 24-7 in Shield final in Canada but the Kenyans would prove supreme in Singapore, beating Russia 21-7 in the preliminaries on their way to claiming their maiden victory in the Series, downing the giants Fiji 30-7 in the final.

Perhaps New Zealand will be Kenya’s main rival, having met thrice this season. All Blacks won 36-0 in Wellington but Kenya struck in Las Vegas, winning 22-0. Their last outing was a close contest where Kenya lost 5-0 in Hong Kong.

As the team savour the victory, team skipper Andrew Amonde said they will have to reinvent themselves and remain at the core as they head to the penultimate leg of the Series. “We really must show our worth by staying at the top of things and make the Cup quarters,” said Amonde.

Kenya are placed seventh in the Series with 85 points while New Zealand are third on 135. Russia and Japan tie at 14th with 21 points each followed by Portugal with 17.

Ben Ryan's series-leading Fiji meet Samoa, Scotland and Wales in Pool “B” while South Africa, Australia, England and the invited team Brazil will compete in Pool “C.” Argentina await hosts France, USA and Canada in Pool “D.”