SINGAPORE — Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa — these three traditional rugby powerhouses had won the last seven legs of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series between them, and nothing leading up to the weekend’s Singapore Sevens at the National Stadium suggested that this would change.

But the Kenyan team thought otherwise. Having already defied expectations to reach the Cup final, they then went a step further as they overpowered a fatigued Fijian side 30-7 to clinch the Singapore Sevens title — their first tournament win in the series’ history.

Led by inspirational winger Collins Injera — who scored two tries — the Kenyans sent the 26,053 crowd into a frenzy as they raced into a 20-0 lead by half-time. And through a combination of disciplined defending and powerful attacking play, they managed to hold reigning champions Fiji at bay in the second half as they went on to consolidate their victory.

Injera moved within two tries of Argentina’s Santiago Gomez Cora leading mark of 230 in the all-time scoring charts with a double in the upset victory at the National Stadium to secure Kenya’s title.

Kenya had only scraped through to the knockout stages after beating Russia, drawing with Scotland and losing to South Africa, but a series of upsets on day one handed them a favourable draw. The Africans beat France 28-7 in the quarter-finals and Argentina 15-12 in the semis yesterday before taking out the Fijians.

Kenya shot up to seventh in the standings after their 22-point haul in Singapore, with Fiji extending their lead at the top to eight points over South Africa with two rounds remaining in France and England.

“It’s such a joy, my pulse is still racing and it’s something that will take a bit of time before it sinks in,” said Kenya head coach Benjamin Ayimba after the final. “Anything can happen in sevens, and both teams (Fiji and Kenya) were playing very well, so when the opportunity presented itself, we were ready for it.”

However, the impact of Kenya’s historic triumph in Singapore is likely to extend beyond just the lifting of a Cup. Despite being a popular sport in the country, the Kenyans have never managed to truly establish themselves among the elite nations of the sport.

But this win has led Ayimba to claim that the Kenyans — who are better known for their prowess in athletics and distance runners — could be standing on the cusp of something special as they seek to repeat their success in future tournaments.

“For our players, this win will give them huge amounts of self-belief,” said Ayimba. “We’ve always had the potential, but knowing now that we can beat the best will give us even more confidence for success in future tournaments. This will make us an even better and more dangerous team to play against.

“But I also think this victory will have an impact not just in Kenya but in the whole of Africa itself as well. Given that it’s a first win in the tournament for an African nation other than South African, it will encourage the younger kids to take up rugby as it gives them a lot more heroes to look up to.”

Agreeing, Injera added that the country’s overall rugby ecosystem would benefit from their victory as it showed that Kenyans can be successful in the sport.

“Right now, rugby is still developing in the country and we’re trying to put systems in the junior level so that we can bring up the next generation,” explained Injera. “People in Kenya have been following us closely and now that we’ve won a final, they will start believing there’s a future in the sport and we will hopefully get more seriously involved in rugby.”

Kenya’s victory in the Singapore Sevens could just be the tip of the iceberg. With the country having secured qualification to the Olympics last November, veteran player Humphrey Kayange believes they can now go on to make a name for themselves in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

“Our performances in the Singapore Sevens is definitely a statement that we’ll be a team to be reckoned with in the Olympics,” Kayange told TODAY. “We’ve been talking about it all year, but this weekend shows the culmination of good work over the last few months. It’s fantastic for our confidence and our morale and we’ll be looking forward to taking on all comers now. For us, the aim will be to win gold at the Olympics.”