“He made us sit for theory rugby exams!” Collins Injera hails coaches who made him a living rugby legend

RUGBY “He made us sit for theory rugby exams!” Collins Injera hails coaches who made him a living rugby legend

Mark Kinyanjui 18:17 - 10.07.2023

Injera has praised the impact of the coaches who made him make a name for himself in world rugby.

Former Kenya Sevens winger Collins Injera has rated the coaches who impacted his rugby career and helped him leave his mark as a living legend of the game.

Injera played under a number of coaches during his time at Shujaa, where he was able to achieve different milestones both individually and collectively over his 12-year career.

The speedster during his heydays has praised the impact Benjamin Ayimba and Paul Treu made on his game.

“Benjamin Ayimba impacted my career so much. He is the one who gave me a chance. I first learned about him when we were playing at Harlequins. I kicked a conversion and then he told me, ‘young tuck, if you continue like that, I will pick you for Kenya 7s,” he said.

“I thought he was just saying it, but then he gave me the call up a few weeks later. Of course, I did not go for the first tour, but he picked me for the next tour, alongside Biko Adema.

“He gave me an opportunity in Hong Kong where I played twice. We travelled down to Adelaide. I came on as a sub for Ted Omondi who was injured. I made a very solid run. We lost to South Africa 17-7. It was very close.

“The next game, he started me. I was not expecting it. Since starting that game, I have never missed a single game until around Mike Friday’s time when we had issues.

“Benja was there at the start of my career and was there when we achieved this milestone of winning one of the legs in 2016 (Singapore)."

Injera also hailed South African tactician Paul Treu for impacting his “knowledge of the game”

“A coach who has impacted my knowledge, skill level, and understanding of the game is Paul Treu. The rugby brains he had and his thinking of the future were close to none. He is a rugby brain!

“He made me understand why we were doing certain things. If you do not understand the why, you will never understand this game. 

“I knew this guy would koroga (mix) our brains-for lack of a better word- because in his first meeting as a coach, he asked us what we wanted to do for the upcoming season and everyone was like, we want to win the series.

“After everyone had spoken, he asked a relatively rhetorical question, ‘How are you going to win the series when you have never even won a leg?’ That is when I realized that tumepata changamoto (we have gotten a challenge).”

Injera has also revealed how the South African tactician would amazingly give the players' theory rugby exams to help them understand the game better.

“This is not your ordinary guy. This is someone who would mess with your head and get into your head not just to mess you up, but to make you think more. The players who could not handle it fell off and locked their brains.

“He even made us sit for exams. Yes, we used to sit for theory rugby exams. He would tell us breakfast is at seven, but then tell us to go to the boardroom to do exams with marks, asking us to explain things!

“That kind of challenge made me start thinking outside the box and understand why we did certain things. He made me understand that sometimes, not everything is about the individual, but the team effort, to look at things from the genesis. 

“If a team scores a try against you, do not look at the last tackle missed. Look at it from the beginning. Was it a defensive structure? Was it a team set up structure? Those kind of things.

“Before, we just used to play. We used to just copy what other teams were doing without understanding why. If New Zealand’s defensive shape was a certain way, it was probably because they were weak there.”

Injera, who has scored the second most tries in the World Rugby Sevens Series, announced his retirement earlier this year aged 36.

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