Kenyan rugby player signs £60,000 camera lens - with indelible ink

Kenyan rugby sevens star Collins Injera thought he was doing viewers a favour when after scoring his 200th international try he pulled out a pen and signed a TV camera.

But according to reports, it turned out to be a rather expensive autograph. Instead of signing a protective cover, as is common after tennis matches, he had instead signed the camera lens itself - and used an indelible marker.

The 28-year-old vice-captain scored the try as part of a 24-12 victory over Japan at Twickenham Stadium in south-west London on Sunday. He's now one of only three players to achieve the 200-try feat.

The try took Injera to a tally of 204 - within striking distance of the 230-try record set by all-time leading scorer Santiago Gomez Cora of Argentina, which Injera has said he's very keen to beat.

It's easy, therefore, to see why he was so excited - it's just a shame his clearly-pre-planned celebration wasn't better thought-out.

After scoring the try, Injera pulled a pen from a hiding place in his sock and first, rather more conventionally, signed a rugby ball. However, he then moved onto the camera and scrawled his name across the lens before the cameraman had time to react. The damage was initially estimated at £60,000, and the cameraman was reported to be extremely miffed.

However, Injera himself has played down the incident, which he says has been exaggerated by the media.

"The camera is expensive, but no harm was done to it," he tells Kenyan news site The Star. "It could be that they are looking for readers and traffic for their news."


He claims that the 'indelible' marker was in fact later removed, and that the camera was used successfully for the rest of the tournament.

Later, Fiji were crowned sevens world series champions for the first time in nine years after the final event of the season, beating South Africa 19-7.

However, it was the United States who won the tournament in London, beating Australia by 45-22 and bringing the team their first ever major title.

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