Sevens team blazes past Tunisia in Dubai

By James Waindi

A hat trick by IRB Sevens Series top try scorer Collins Injera steered Kenya to a resounding 29-7 win over Tunisia as the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens kicked off in Dubai.

Kenya, who are in Group E of the tournament together with Tunisia, Hong Kong and England now only needs one more win to qualify for the knockout stages of the global event.

Kenya coach Benjamin Ayimba gambled slightly in the match, leaving out in-form Ben Nyambu and Sidney Ashioya in favour of former captain Innocent Simiyu who last played for the team in November last year, but the gamble seemed to have worked.

Tunisia who entered the match as underdogs on paper, sounded the alarm early with daring runs on the flanks and were awarded after three minutes when Nakuru’s fly-half Gibson Weru failed to tackle Abess Kherfani who touched down for the North Africans and converted to give Tunisia a surprise 7-0 lead.

Captain Humprey Kayange, who played as a prop in the match, quickly pulled one back after a sprint on the left flank but Lavin Asego missed the conversion.

Similar try

At 7-5 down, the pressure was still on Kenya, but Kayange’s younger brother Injera added to the tally with a similar try a minute later only for Asego to miss again the conversion to give Kenya a slender 10-7 lead at half time.

On resumption, Kenya pinned the stubborn Tunisian on their half and in form Injera added two quick tries, first beating the Tunisia defence with a dummy before sprinting to the touch line and he combined well with Asego for his third and Kenya’s fourth try.

Asego missed one conversion and kicked the other to give the ‘Virgin Boys’ a comfortable 22-7 lead with two minutes to go.

Ayimba brought in winger Sidney Ashioya for flanker Allan Onyango and Ashioya made an immediate impact with a try on his first touch of the ball.

 

 

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