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The Shujaa legend has revealed how sheer confidence at taking rugby kicks earned him his maiden Shujaa up
World Rugby Hall of Famer Collins Injera has revealed how his wayward kicking paved the way for making him a Kenya Sevens legend.
Injera, who is now renowned globally as one of the greatest sevens rugby players, hung up his boots in February after years of doing Kenya proud for tours on end since making his debut in 2006.
The 36-year-old finished his high school education in 2004, before starting his rugby career with the now-disbanded Ulinzi RFC. Following disbandment, he played for the Mwamba Reserves before earning a call-up to the national 15s side Kenya Simbas.
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It was at Simbas where he used the platform to graduate to the Mwamba seniors before a run in the side led him to earning his first call-up to the sevens national side under the tutelage of the late Benjamin Ayimba.
Injera has given a funny account of the build up that led to his first call up for Shujaa.
“I had played for the 15s, I had played against Southern Spears home and away and had played against Uganda home and away,” Injera said on the OSBKE podcast.
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“I was playing as a (number) 13 against Southern Spears and saw that I might not have hacked it as a 13 because I was slender and my cheekbones were the high lines, so he told me ‘try your luck in the wing’. And that is how stuck to the flank in 2006 after one year playing SS (reserve rugby For Mwamba).
“Uganda beat us by a conversion and I remember our kicker was firing blanks. We won a penalty from 50 meters and I demanded to take it. I decided I was going to take it despite never kicking at training.
“I threw technique out of the window and decided to give it a go with brute kicking strength. Luyas call it rumula!
“It went wide, and I was never asked to kick the ball again. But it was just sheer confidence because everyone was missing and I can as well kick one. That was my highlight, as a first-time kicker and winger who had not even trained.
“I got into 7s immediately. We played in the Kenya Cup. I remember a game against Quins and it was right after we had got a try in the right corner of the ground where Nondies fans sit.
"I went to put the ball by the line next to the corner for the conversion. I decided to rumula the ball and then it split the uprights.
“In the stands, the late Benjamin Ayimba saw it and shouted, ‘Young tuck, keep doing that and you will be a sevens player’. And that is how my sevens call-up came up.”
Injera hung up his boots as the world's second-top try scorer in sevens after crossing the line on 279 occasions.
He was part of the Shujaa squad at the past four Rugby Sevens World Cups, reaching the semi-finals in 2009 and 2013.
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