Singapore sting: Kenya stun Fiji to win first Sevens World Series title
East Africans run in four first-half tries to catch the Hong Kong Sevens champions cold and put themselves among Olympic medal hopefuls
Kenya pulled off a stunning 30-7 upset victory over Fiji in the Cup final of the Singapore Sevens on Sunday to capture their first HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event and join the growing list of contenders for the Olympic gold medal in Rio.
The East Africans, who had twice finished runner-up in tournaments, blew the Fijians off the park with four tries in the first half, including two by Collins Injera who took his career tally to 225 touchdowns, just five behind Argentina coach Santiago Goméz Cora’s world record of 230.
“Winning this final means more to me than the tries,” Injera said. “I’m not focused on them, because the ultimate goal is to medal at the Olympics.”
Winning this final means more to me than the tries. I’m not focused on them, because the ultimate goal is to medal at the Olympics
Despite being weary after winning in Hong Kong last week and missing a handful of their top players, Fiji were still overwhelming favourites to win the final at Singapore’s National Stadium because of their comeback powers.
In Sunday’s quarter-final Fiji scored two tries in the last minute to overturn a nine-point deficit and beat Australia 19-14.
Then they scored another two tries in the last minute to defeat South Africa 26-21 in the semis.
“In the final, Kenya extinguished us. They suffocated us and we couldn’t get our game going, the boys are going to learn some lessons there.”
