JOHANNESBURG - The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Innocent Simiyu as the head coach of the Kenya sevens team.
The appointment of Simiyu comes after an intensive interview process last month in which he topped a short list of four candidates which included Dennis Mwanja, Paul Murunga and Nick Wakley.
KRU said in a statement: “Following a KRU board meeting on September 1, we would like to confirm Simiyu as the Head Coach having attained top marks in the interview.
“The panel had Thomas Odundo, KRU acting CEO, Paul Feeney, former Kenya sevens head coach Peter Harding and World Rugby High Performance consultant.”
According to KRU “Pertinent issues arising from the Paris 2018 tournament” were discussed with Simiyu, and both parties have agreed on an approach to ensure the team keeps improving.
The Kenya sevens team has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but the HSBC World Sevens Series seems to be in doubt with the Dubai / Cape Town and New Zealand / Australia legs cancelled due complications arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
#ThrowbackThursday.
— HSBC Sport (@HSBC_Sport) August 6, 2020
When @OfficialKRU brought the moves on and off the pitch at the #NZSevens.#HSBC7s #Rugby7s pic.twitter.com/NdC6740InT
Simiyu is a former Kenya International and handled the team on the Sevens World Series between 2016 and 2018. In his playing career for Kenya, he amassed 321 points from 121 matches. At club level he represented Impala Saracens and Kenya Harlequin.
He steered the Kenya sevens team to 12th position with 63 points during the 2016/17 season before guiding them to eighth position with a record points tally of 104 points during the 2017/18 season.
African News Agency (ANA)