Collins Injera breaks silence on 2013 ban that cost him HSBC Sevens Series leg
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Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 26.03.26. | 10:00
Injera, 39, made his HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series debut in Hong Kong in March 2007 and went on to make 424 appearances across 15 years. In total he scored 279 tries, and 1,443 points on the circuit before his retirement in 2023 .
Kenyan rugby legend Collins Injera has opened up for the first time about the 2013 club-versus-country standoff that saw him sidelined from national duty and miss a leg of the HSBC Sevens Series, the Hong Kong 7s.
The fallout stemmed from a dispute involving Mwamba RFC, the Kenya Rugby Union, and national team commitments. Mwamba had suspended Injera alongside Dennis Ombachi and Horace Otieno after they failed to feature in a Kenya Cup semifinal clash against Strathmore Leos, a match Mwamba went on to lose.
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The club maintained that the union had contravened IRB regulations by barring the players from turning out in the fixture. The defeat saw Mwamba miss out on the final before finishing fourth after losing the playoff to KCB Rugby.
As a result of the suspension, the affected players were barred from all rugby activity, effectively locking them out of national team duty with Kenya Sevens just as Mike Friday had taken over as head coach.
Speaking on an episode of The Netwalking TV, Injera described the situation as a difficult balancing act between loyalty to club and country.
“My club, Mwamba Rugby, had a bit of friction with the national team at the time. I will not go into the details. As a result, Mwamba decided to ban all their players from participating in national team activities. And when you’re banned by your club, you can’t take part in any rugby activity,” he said.
“So it became difficult. How was I supposed to train with the national team when my club had already barred me? I’ve always been very loyal to Mwamba,” he continued.
Injera revealed that several players initially skipped national team training sessions, prompting a stern response from the new technical bench.
“There were about four of us affected by the ban. We skipped the first training session, then the second. After that, we started receiving calls from the national team, warning us that if we didn’t report to camp, our contracts would be revoked. That was around the time Mike Friday had just come in, and he was very strict,” he recalled.
At the time, Union boss Mwangi Muthee said the decision was arrived at the recommendation of head coach, Mike Friday.
“The Kenya Sevens team is on transition, we are headed to full professionalism and some of our boys are finding it difficult to cope with the sacrifices they have to make. The level of discipline has to go a notch higher.
We want to be world champions, there is a lot of character and value that needs to be developed so that we can be the best in the world. We are not going to compromise on discipline,” the KRU chair said then.
Despite the mounting pressure, Injera chose to stand by his club.
“I still chose not to go. I told myself I would only return once Mwamba lifted the ban. That’s when they informed me that my contract had been terminated. Because of that, I missed out on one leg of the series,” he explained.
Missing out on the HSBC circuit was not just a professional setback but also a financial blow.
“Of course, it hurt. At the time, making the tour also meant earning bonuses, so missing out was tough. But I also understood the pressure Mwamba was under and how the union was handling the situation,” he described.
Rather than dwell on the disappointment, Injera channeled his focus back to club rugby, delivering a standout performance that confirmed his quality.
“I stayed focused, kept training, and turned out for Mwamba. In one league match, I scored seven tries, and I wasn’t even playing in my usual position,” he said.
His resilience soon paid off. With most of the national squad away on assignment, Injera earned a recall to training and gradually worked his way back into the setup.
“The following week, I was called back to training, and I went. At the time, most of the squad was out of the country, so I trained alone with the strength and conditioning setup. Eventually, I was reinstated into the national team,” he concluded.