NAIROBI, Kenya, July 21- Kenya Sevens play-maker Collins Injera is elated with the support he has received from Kenyan fans, who voted for him in the #TheGreatestMoment polls which has been running for the last two weeks.
Injera was nominated in Rugby’s top 10 moments after breaking Argentinean Santiago Gomez Cora’s all-time try record of 230 tries in the final leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series in London.
“The support was amazing. I was quite surprised. I went to bed with the votes at 27 when I woke up in the morning they were like 11,000. It is a good thing and I thank the Kenyans who have voted,” Injera told Capital Sport.
The support they have given us has been immense. Thank you so much for the effort you took to go to the site and vote. It shows just how much support we have there.”
Injera has accumulated over 22,000 votes in the tally, being followed in a distant second by Japan’s 15’s team for their upset of the South African team at the World Cup last year.
Others who have been nominated are legendary New Zealand player, the late Jonah Lomu for his performance against England at Rugby World Cup 1995, Tony Stanger’s Grand Slam-winning try in 1990, Joel Stransky’s drop goal in Rugby World Cup 1995 final, The Black Ferns’ fourth consecutive Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2010 and Jonny Willkinson’s Rugby World Cup-winning drop goal in 2003.
Others are France’s wonder try against New Zealand in 1994, All Blacks lifting their third Rugby World Cup title in 2015 and the Barbarians’ famous try against New Zealand in 1973.
Injera has promised to reward the loyal fans with a medal from Rio Olympics as the team prepares to depart on Sunday.
“We want to go and bring a medal, things should go well and we come back with a reward for them. It has been a great season for us especially winning a Cup in one of the legs AT World Series which has always been our dream. I think that gives us a lot of motivation heading to Rio,” he offered.
Kenya has been drawn in a tough Group C alongside titans New Zealand, Great Britain and Japan.
Injera knows too well the expectations on the team and admits it will not be an easy task getting out of the group.
“Our first target is to maneuver out of the preliminaries and from there take a match at a time. We know this is a once in a life time chance and all the boys want to do is impress and bring back a medal. It is tough of course but we are up to the task,” the winger added.
Head coach Benjamin Ayimba has named an experienced team to fly out to Rio and Injera believes it is the strongest they could produce and keeps faith they will do great.