Injera inspires Kenya in London Sevens battle: USA stun hosts England to throw the group wide open

Kenya made a dramatic come-back to share the spoils with United States (19-19) in a thrilling encounter.

Kenya was on the verge of qualifying for the London Sevens Cup quarterfinals if the first two results of day one’s Group C matches at Twickenham Stadium, is anything to go by.

The former Singapore Sevens champions, who were level on points (five) with Mike Friday’s USA after two games, were due to face-off hosts England in a decisive encounter last night.

Kenya made a dramatic come-back to share the spoils with United States (19-19) in a thrilling encounter before overcoming France 24-21 in their second match.

Collins Injera was the hero, scoring a brace of tries to help Innocent Simiyu’s men grab a stalemate against his former coach, barely hours after his elder brother Humphrey Khayange had called it quits from international rugby. 

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“It feels good to get the draw. We started on back foot but were more focused in the second half and it went well for us,” said Injera after the first match.

Carlin Isles opened the scoring early with a converted try before Martin Iosefo doubled the lead after the USA turned the ball over, taking it on a short line in Kenya's 22 and flying over the line to cap off a strong half from his side.

But Shujaa came back into the second half a more rejuvenated side with Will Ambaka starting the comeback with a bang. Ambaka moved into space and threw a nice show-and-go to get in behind and score.

Injera then scored the second try for Kenya before grabbing his brace just to level up the game. Injera grounded his second deep in the game just after USA had regained the lead through Danny Barrett’s try.

Unstoppable Injera continued from where he left off in the first match to inspire the East Africans to a hard fought 24-21 win over France.

Kenya got off to a flying start with Injera opening his legs to stride clear of the French defence, but France responded with a converted try from Stephen Parez to take the lead.

Jeffery Oluoch would bulldoze his way through the tackles to offload to Ambaka, who scored to help Kenya regain the lead.

Billy Odhiambo added another on the stroke of half-time to give his side a buffer.

France got themselves back into it game immediately after the break second half through Parez’s second try before Steeve Barry handed them the lead.

But once again, Injera proved his prowess when it matters most with a flying blind-side run to hand Kenya the victory.

USA went on to upset hosts England 31-14 to throw the group wide open.