Kenya Sevens vice-captain Collins Injera has broken the all-time try scoring record after surpassing 230-tries mark initially held by Argentina’s Santiago Gomez Cora.
Injera has now scored 231 tries, but his record breaking try came in a 29-12 defeat to France at the final leg of the IRB World Rugby Sevens Series at Twickenham Stadium in London, yesterday.
It was at Twickenham that the Mwamba RFC star scored his first ever series try; played his 50th tournament and scored his 200th series try last year.
And yesterday, history was written as Injera broke Cora’s record by grounding an unconverted try in Kenya’s 29-12 defeat to France in a decisive Group C final match.
This was their second defeat of the day after losing 24-12 to Scotland, but this could not stop Injera from celebrating his historic achievement.
After scoring his 231st try, with the help of his elder brother Humphrey Kayange who gave him the ball in the in-goal area, the 27-year old speedster took off his shirt and ran into the stands to hug his excited parents and gave them the jersey.
“I think Rugby Sevens is very special game to me. I have played this sport since high school. And just breaking the record is more special. I remember when starting out, I really wanted to go for the record and now that I have realised it, it is a huge thing for me.
“I just got it for my brother (Kayange), the person who I started playing this game with. He was mentoring me a lot, telling me what to do and what not to do. It is a special moment for me and since it is happening in Twickenham, it is more special,” said a jubilant Injera after the France match.
It is in the second match against Scotland that Injera scored a brace of tries to equal Cora’s ‘record as Kenya fell 12-24.
It was a special and historic moment for Injera as he dummied the Scottish defence to touch down his second try of the match and third of the day to the delight of his parents.
However, his try just before the hooter couldn’t stop the Scots from winning and Kenya’s Main Cup quarter-finals’ hopes were jolted.
Scotland got off to a dream start when James Johnstone dotted down inside the first minute of the game with Scott Wight successful conversion handing an early 7-0 lead.
Damien Hoyland then extended the lead with a converted try on restart to leave Kenya on the back foot. Jamie Farndale could have scored the third try for Scotland, but an impressive Injera pulled off an incredible try-saving tackle to hold the ball.
The respite lasted only for seconds as Scott Riddell struck the third try to make the scores 19-0.
Injera then pulled a converted try back for Kenya from Kayange’s set up to take his series tries tally to 229.
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After the break, Kenya restricted Scotland in their own half but they couldn’t penetrate through their defence. Mark Robertson then pounced on a loose ball to make it 24-7 and put the game beyond Kenya’s reach.
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