Kenya national rugby sevens team

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This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Kenya women's national rugby sevens team.

Kenya
UnionKenya Rugby Union
Emblem(s)The African lion
Coach(es)Innocent Simiyu
Captain(s)Andrew Amonde
Most capsCollins Injera (79)
Top scorerCollins Injera (1,443)[1]
Most triesCollins Injera (279)[2]
Team kit
World Cup Sevens
Appearances5 (First in 2001)
Best result3rd place (2009)
Official website
www.kru.co.ke

The Kenya national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. They are currently one of the 15 "core teams" of the World Series, with a guaranteed place in all 10 events each season. Kenya recorded its first tournament win in the World Rugby Sevens Series after beating Fiji at the 2016 Singapore Sevens.[3] Kenya has also been successful in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, reaching the semifinals in 2009 and again in 2013.[citation needed]

The Kenya Sevens team is sometimes referred to by the Kenyan and international press as Shujaa,[4] a Swahili word meaning courage, confidence, bravery, or heroism. The Kenya national rugby sevens team is one of the more successful sporting teams representing Kenya. They have won the men's Team of the Year category six times at the Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year Awards: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009,[5][6] 2013, and 2016.

Honors[]

World Rugby Sevens Series[]

A line-out during the 2008 Edinburgh Sevens

Kenya has competed in the World Series every year since the competition's inception in 1999–2000. Kenya's best season came in 2012–13 when they finished fifth in the Series. Collins Injera and Humphrey Kayange were both nominated for World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2009, but lost to England's Ollie Phillips.

World Series record
Season Position Most tries Most points
1999–00 20th
2000–01 23rd
2001–02 23rd
2002–03 10th (6) (79)
2003–04 11th (28) (158)
2004–05 10th (17) (87)
2005–06 9th (18) (163)
2006–07 11th Innocent Simiyu (19) Innocent Simiyu (115)
2007–08 7th Collins Injera (18) Collins Injera (92)
2008–09 6th Collins Injera (42) Collins Injera (210)
2009–10 8th Humphrey Kayange (33) (173)
2010–11 9th Humphrey Kayange (31) Humphrey Kayange (157)
2011–12 12th Willy Ambaka (16) (81)
2012–13 5th Willy Ambaka (24) Willy Ambaka (120)
2013–14 7th Collins Injera (30) Collins Injera (166)
2014–15 13th Billy Odhiambo (20) Billy Odhiambo (100)
2015–16 7th Collins Injera (32) Collins Injera (172)
2016–17 12th Billy Odhiambo (22) Billy Odhiambo/Samuel Oliech (110)
2017–18 8th Willy Ambaka (31) Willy Ambaka (155)
2018–19 13th Vincent Onyala (22) Daniel Taabu (157)
Total Collins Injera (271) Collins Injera (1,393)

Tournament history[]

Summer Olympic Games[]

Rugby World Cup Sevens[]

World Cup record
Tournament Round Position Played Won Lost Drew Most tries
Scotland 1993 Did not qualify
Hong Kong 1997
Argentina 2001 Bowl Semifinals =19th 7 1 6 0
Hong Kong 2005 Bowl Semifinals =19th 7 3 4 0 Lucas Onyango (6)
United Arab Emirates 2009 Semifinals =3rd 5 3 2 0 Collins Injera (5)
Russia 2013 Semifinals 4th 6 4 2 0 Humphrey Kayange (6)
United States 2018 Challenge quarterfinals 16th 5 1 4 0 (4)
Total 0 Titles 5/7 30 12 18 0 C. Injera & H. Kayange (9)

Commonwealth Games[]

Kenya playing the Cook Islands at 2014 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth record
Year Round Position Pld W L D
Malaysia 1998 Bowl Quarterfinals 13th 5 0 5 0
England 2002 Bowl Semifinals 11th 5 2 3 0
Australia 2006 Bowl Champions 9th 6 4 2 0
India 2010 Plate Semifinals 7th 5 3 2 0
Scotland 2014 Plate Semifinals 7th 5 2 3 0
Australia 2018 Placement round 8th 5 2 3 0
Total 0 Titles 6/6 31 13 18 0

Africa Cup Sevens[]

Africa Cup Sevens record
Year Round Position Pld W L D
Kenya Champions 1st 6 6 0 0
Zimbabwe Finals 2nd 7 5 2 0
South Africa 2015 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0
Kenya 2016 Semifinals 3rd 4 3 1 0
Uganda 2017 Did Not Compete
Tunisia 2018 Finals 2nd 5 4 1 0
South Africa 2019 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0
Total 3 Titles 6/7 34 30 4 0

Safari Sevens[]

Kenya has won the Safari Sevens ten times:

  • 1997 versus Cumbria Schoolboys 24–27,
  • 2000 Kenya 'A' (Shujaa) won, defeating Bristol University RFC, 26–24
  • 2003 versus Emerging Springboks 29–7,
  • 2004 versus Emerging Springboks 10–7,
  • 2008 versus 35–12,
  • 2009 versus Emerging Springboks 40–19,
  • 2010 versus Emerging Springboks 17–12,
  • 2014 versus Australia Renegades 40-7,
  • 2016 versus Samurai International 38-21
  • 2019 versus Springbok Sevens 19-12.

Team[]

Current squad[]

For a complete list of players in the current World Series, see 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series squads § Kenya.

Former squads[]

Kenya team to the 2016 Summer Olympics
Kenya squad for the 2017–18 World Sevens Series

Player records[]

The following refers to statistics generated in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Players in bold are still active. Collins Injera was briefly ranked the #1 player in the world in tries scored, until his try-scoring record was surpassed by England's Dan Norton.

Most tries[9]
No. Player Tries
1 Collins Injera 279
2 Humphrey Kayange 159
3 Willy Ambaka 123
Most points[10]
No. Player Points
1 Collins Injera 1,443
2 1,026
3 Humphrey Kayange 799
Most matches[11]
No. Player Matches
1 Collins Injera 424
2 Andrew Amonde 358
3 Humphrey Kayange 331

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Points: Kenya". Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Try Stats: Kenya". Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Kenya Sevens make history". Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Shujaa finish bottom in Dubai 7s", Daily Nation, 1 December 2018.
  5. ^ "SOYA Awards – 2007 winners!". Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  6. ^ KBC, 24 January 2009: Jelimo and Wanjiru crowned best sports personalities[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Kenya 7s – Olympic Games Men's Sevens". World Rugby. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Kenya Squad". Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  9. ^ World Rugby statistics, current as of 15 March 2020
  10. ^ World Rugby statistics, current as of 15 March 2020
  11. ^ World Rugby statistics, current as of 15 March 2020

External links[]

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