Injera masterclass silences Shujaa naysayers

When Alasio Naduva scored Fiji’s second try against Kenya with two minutes on the clock to the end of their final Pool A game at the Las Vegas Sevens in the United States, a collective hush rung through the hundreds of Kenyan fans who had been rooted in their seats at the Sam Boyd Stadium.

A sense of foreboding loomed large in the Kenyan camp; Shujaa had not reached the Cup quarterfinals on US soil in two seasons.

The Pacific islanders’ try with the clock running down evidently took the wind off their sails.

But Shujaa’s talismanic winger Collins Injera who has time and again conjured something out of nothing was involved in the key moment that gifted Kenya the stunning victory.

Andrew Amonde, renown for his trademark power runs opted for route one after snatching a glance at the scoreboard, which stood at 14 – 12 in favor of the Fijians.

Like a freight train, Amonde pummeled through the defense leaving two Fijians sprawled on the artificial turf, Jerry Tuwai managed to slow the burly forward briefly; Daniel Sikuta was able to secure the ensuing ruck setting up an attacking platform for Kenya 20 meters from the try line.

‘fighting and fighting’

Injera who was playing as scrum half had four players on his left itching to score the winning try, the Mwamba flyer using his 13 year experience in the World sevens series chose the blind side committing two Fijian defenders to offload the ball to Amonde who touched down on the white wash.

It sent the Kenyan stand into raptures as the scoreboard changed to 17 – 14.

Eden Agero scoffed his conversion wide but no one seemed to care as his teammates hugged Amonde with the buzzer sounding off in the distance.

“One thing I have always side we keep fighting for each other, Fiji scored in the dying seconds of the game when we got the ball back we kept fighting and fighting,” Injera exclusively told Citizen Digital after he was involved heavily in the build up to Shujaa’s winning try.

“We had lost our first game to France many guys had ruled us out, we always chatted and we really wanted to go out there and beat Fiji.”

Kenya finished second in Pool A and joined Fiji in the cup quarter final denying France due to a superior points difference.

-Bernard Ndong is reporting from Las Vegas, Nevada.

*IMAGE CREDITS (Bernard Ndong for lead photo and David Kiania for in-text photo)