By BS Mulavi

Kenya grabbed their second consecutive Safari Sevens title with an emphatic 40-19 drubbing of the Emerging Boks in a pulsating final.

Who knew that one man could rouse such emotion from a capacity crowd? Whenever Collins Injera touched the ball, the 10,000-strong crowd rose to its feet and true to his word the young Mwamba winger inspired the Kenya national Sevens team to their second consecutive Safari Sevens title.

Kenya’s Collins Injera tackles a Samurai opponent during Sunday’s Safari Sevens semi-final. Photo: Stafford Ondego/Standard

So enigmatic was the winger that after the blow of the final whistle the whole team circled the injured winger who had been wounded after scoring his fourth try of the game in a pulsating final. Injera proved that he was in a league of his own when he scored a hatrick in the first half of the final followed by a fourth try in the second half.

The Kenyans went unbeaten in the whole tournament, proving to be the best team in the region, the hosts had no problem defeating the Chairman Select side 29-0 in the quarter-finals of the main cup and then proceeding to beat Samurai 24-0 in a one sided semi-final.

The Chairman Select side did not give Kenya much opposition in the first game of the day thus dropping to the plate semi’s but Samurai had no love lost for the national team and put up a spirited fight even though the World Cup semi-finalists proved too hot to handle.

By the time the hosts got to the final it was clear to everyone who were the favourites, even the Harambee Stars who were watching from the confines of the Tusker tent could only salivate at the support Ayimba’s boys were getting.

Boks defence

The Emerging Boks managed to score first after a well staged counterattack but the hosts were ruthless and only a minute later the star of the day Injera broke the Boks’ defence to sprint over 75 yards to score the first try.

From then on it’s was an avalanche of tries with Injera getting two more and Innocent Simiyu also getting his name on the scoreboard. The Emerging Boks could only conjure a solitary try before the half time whistle to take the game to 26-7 at half time.

The South Africans came back in the second half revitalized and pumped up scoring the first try and nearly scoring a second had it not been for handling errors in the oppositions try box. Kenya were to have none of this and a few tactical substitutions roared some life into the hosts. Injera could have gotten his fifth try of the day had it not been a high tackle in the Boks’ 22- yard box resulting in Kenya being awarded a penalty try.

So popular was the Kenyan team that in their lap of honour they stopped occasionally to have a few jigs and dances with the crowd.

The Chairman Select side, however, failed to win any trophy after they were defeated 19-12 in the plate final. The South Africans looked lethal from the onslaught scoring two quick tries in the first half of which the Kenyans could only reply with a solo try from Captain Brian Nyikuli.

Western Raiders came back strong in the second half and even a last minute try by Peter Ocholla was only enough to save face but not win the game.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s improved performance in their victory over France on Saturday should hold them in good stead for the remainder of the international season, All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen said on Sunday adds Reuters.

New Zealand won the second test 14-10 after putting on a much better display in Wellington than in the 27-22 loss in the first test in Dunedin last week.

While the series was locked at 1-1, France won the Dave Gallaher Cup for the first time since it was introduced in 2000 courtesy of their five-point victory at Carisbrook.

"What it has done is given everyone a reality check about where they need to be at," Hansen told reporters. "We saw an improved performance from week one to week two."

The All Blacks were without several highly-experienced players, including regular captain Richie McCaw, for the French series.