Kenya won the eighth round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in dramatic fashion, beating Fiji 30-7 to claim an historic Cup title.
Collins Injera, named HSBC player of the final, scored twice in the final as his side blew the series leaders Fiji away with 20 unanswered first half points.
It was a fitting end to a sensational weekend of rugby sevens, with more than 45,000 people turning out at the National Stadium with Singapore returning to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after a 10-year absence.
Fiji’s place in the final after victory over South Africa in the semi final extended their lead at the top of the standings to eight points with two rounds remaining in Paris and London while the Blitzboks returned to second place having finished third after beating Argentina 28-0 in the third place play off which included a 50th career try for Kwagga Smith.
Earlier two enthralling semi-finals set up the final with series leaders Fiji coming from behind for the second time of the day to win with the last play of the match. First Kitione Taliga helped Ben Ryan’s side beat Australia 19-14 having trailed 14-5 before they beat South Africa 26-21 with substitutes Amenoni Nasilasila and Alivereti Veitokani scoring the decisive tries in the first semi final.
The second semi-final was just as dramatic with a Collins Injera penalty drop goal giving Kenya the lead for the first time in the match and sealing a 15-12 win with the last kick.
SAMOA DENT NEW ZEALAND’S SERIES’ HOPES WITH SECOND PLATE OF SEASON
Having trailed 21-14 with less than two minutes left on the clock, Samoa scored twice to give them a 26-21 victory over New Zealand who dropped to third in the standings.
First a brilliant weaving run from Belgium Tuatagaloa accounted for the first try before Tila Mealoi intercepted a stray pass to race 40 metres and send the Samoans into raptures. It was Mealoi’s second in the match, having also scored two in their semi-final win over France.
Samoa last beat New Zealand in 2012 and the victory will give them a lot of confidence heading into the last two rounds of the series and ultimately the repechage where they will compete for the last place in the Olympic Games.
BOWL TRIUMPH FOR SCOTLAND
Hugh Blake and Mark Robertson score tries for Scotland in their Bowl final against USA which ultimately proved too much for the USA. Despite Zack Test and Maka Unufe crossing, both tries left difficult conversions which were unsuccessful. Danny Barrett went on one of his rampaging runs towards the end of the match but the Scotland defnece held firm to secure a second Bowl victory this season.
RUSSIAN HAT-TRICK!
Russia won thier third conseuctive Shield trophy, beating Wales 24-7 in the final.
Vladimir Ostroushko powersed down the right flank for the match’s opening try, before setting up Mikhail Babaev for Russia’s second as they powered to a 12-0 lead. Two further tries from Stanislav Bondarev and Vladislav lzarenko extended the lead to 24-0 before a Nicky Griffiths try gave Wales some consolation.
