Good Friday for Kenya at Dubai Sevens

Kenya qualified for their second straight Cup quarterfinal with hard-earned victories against Scotland and Spain at Dubai Sevens on Friday.

Mike Friday's charges rallied from 0-5 at the interval in both matches as proven scoring machine Collins Injera touched down a brace of tries for Kenya to edge out Scotland 12-5. They were to again brave the Spaniard second half assault to win a closely contested Pool A tie 10-7.

Kenya impressively reached the semi-final in the opening leg of Gold Coast in October, losing to New Zealand 15-5 after tossing our hosts Australia 21-14 in the quarters.

Spain went on the offensive but Kenya would employ a resolute defence to also benefit from their rivals mistakes.

Slowly the Kenyans worked out some phases with Oscar Ouma making a powerful break, avoiding the first tackle before being subdued at the five metre mark.

However, Injera was in close support to collect the ball from the grounded Ouma to score his 146th try in the World Series as Kenya led 5-0.

Spain came back forcefully and a grave mistake at the 22m by Lavin Asego gifted Spain with a penalty. They took it quickly with Martin Ignacio scoring at the far end before making the tight conversion.

Lovely build-up

The Kenyans never relented, claiming the kick-off ball for some lovely build-up. Skipper Andrew Amonde showed power to teat through on the left wing for to link up with Sydney Ashioya before the flying back, who missed the first leg, finished off with a try at the far corner for a 10-7 lead.

The Kenyans held on to win and make it to the Cup quarters albeit with a match at hand against Fiji, winners of Gold Coast whom they played in an early evening match.

Kenya took off to a slow start against Scotland but worked hard to keep possession but not for long. They conceded many turnovers and kept losing the ball in ruck situation with the Scots piling more pressure.

Kenya failed on their defence on the left wing and were out-muscled from their mauls before Michael Fedo scored the first try at the far corner for a 0-5 lead at the interval.

The Kenyans came back recharged as Injera broke.