Kenya Simbas rise but power struggles at KRU mar season

Power struggles at the Kenya Rugby Union and the withdrawal of key sponsors Kenya Airways, Bamburi Cement and Safaricom dominated the 2015 rugby season.

However, these did not take away the allure of Kenya 15s national team, the Simbas, who stunned European sides Spain and Portugal to rise to 27th, their best ever ranking by world governing body International Rugby Board (IRB).

The 2014/2015 season saw the Kenya Sevens team finish 13th in World Rugby Sevens Series, their worst position in many years.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), coached by Curtis Olago, won the 2014/2015 Kenya Cup rugby league title on March 14 for the first time in eight years before lifting the Enterprise Cup title on April 18.

Former Kenya Sevens players Gibson Weru steered Nakuru to their maiden National Sevens Series title on September 6 after winning the Dala and Prinsloo Sevens tournament as Kenya Shujaa, under new coach Benjamin Ayimba, lost to Mike Friday’s Samurai in Safari Sevens final at Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.

Nakuru also won the Great Rift 10s title, beating defending champions KCB 5-0 in the final on April 4.

KRU POWER STRUGGLES

A power struggle ensued after KRU chairman Mwangi Muthee resigned in December 2014 due to alleged corruption and mismanagement at the federation.

The board was split in half when former vice chairman Sasha Mutai was elected acting chairman at a Special General Meeting in Nairobi on February 10.

The meeting, which was attended by 33 delegates from 30 out of the federation’s 40 clubs, also sacked the entire KRU board.

Mutai took over from Gabriel Ouko who had replaced Muthee on an acting capacity.

Ouko’s group went to court to stop the new team from taking over the running of KRU.

This turn of events paved the way for fresh elections that saw Nairobi lawyer Richard Omwela make his way back to the top as chairman of KRU on March 17.

Omwela garnered 25 votes against Ouko’s 18 during KRU’s Annual General Meeting to take the seat.

The High Court cleared the way for the AGM earlier in the day when judges dismissed an application by a faction of KRU that had sought to stop the meeting from taking place.

Justice Alfred Mabeya declined to stop the AGM as had been requested by the club members, saying there was no justifiable reason why the meeting could be stopped.

SAFARICOM SPONSORSHIP

On April 7, Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore suspended the company’s three-year sponsorship deal for the annual Safari Sevens tournament and five legs of the National Sevens Series citing lack of transparency and accountability on the part of organisers and the federation.

Bamburi Cement, sponsors of KRU Super Series, and Kenya Sevens sponsors Kenya Airways also withheld their sponsorship on similar grounds.

In 2013, Safaricom signed a Sh140 million-a-year deal with KRU to sponsor the Sevens circuit that featured Dala, Christie, Kabeberi, Driftwood and Prinsloo Sevens in addition to the Safari Sevens.

Last year, Safaricom who have been the title sponsors of the Safari Sevens since 2010, renewed their sponsorship for the tournament over three years.

However, the mobile telephone service provider returned to sponsor Safari Sevens that was delayed to October 3 to 4, this time reducing their package from Sh75 million in 2009 to Sh30 million.

Kenya Airways are yet to release their sponsorship package for Kenya Sevens team for the 2015/2016 season.

KENYA SEVENS

Kenya Sevens had a share of its own problems.

The senior players staged a boycott that saw former coach Paul Treu field second-string side in the opening legs of the IRB World Sevens Series in Gold Coast, Dubai and Port Elizabeth.

Kenya reached the Bowl finals in Gold Coast and Port Elizabeth, and the Shield final in Dubai.

Treu quit the team after Port Elizabeth, paving way for his deputy Felix “Toti” Ochieng’, who led the team to the Cup quarter-finals of the Wellington leg of IRB World Sevens series before losing the Plate semi-finals. 

That would be the only Cup quarter-final appearance for the team.

Kenya Rugby Union did not renew Ochieng’s contract for the 2015/2016 season.

(READ: Clubs send entire KRU board home, Sasha acting chairman)

His deputy Vuyo Zangqu and strength and conditioning coach Graham Bentz, all from South Africa, were also fired.

That was after Zangqua and Graham featured in a press conference on July 10 alongside senior players including skipper Andrew Amonde, Humphrey Kayange, Collins Injera and Patrice Agunda.

The Sevens team players and the technical bench vowed to boycott training until their outstanding salaries stretching three months were paid.

They also wanted their high performance programme that entails good training equipment and supplements improved.

However, normalcy returned as Kenya Shujaa reached the final of Safari Sevens before losing to former Kenya Sevens coach Mike Friday’s Samurai International 19-20 in a cracking final at Safaricom Stadium on October 4.

As expected, Kenya Sevens went on to claim the slot reserved for Africa at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics after beating Zimbabwe 21-19 in the final on November 15 in South Africa.

KENYA SIMBAS

Kenya Simbas, under South African tactician Jerome Paarwaters, stunned European sides Portugal and Spain 41-15 and 36-27 respectively on May 30 and July 18 in Nairobi to rise to 27th in the World Rugby rankings.

This was the highest ranking by Kenya Simbas.

KCB’s Darwin Mukidza was voted man-of-the-match during the two matches.

Kenya retained her position in the Africa Rugby Division 1A after beating Tunisia 46-15 despite losing 28-20 and 46-13 to Zimbabwe and Namibia respectively.

KCB recaptured the Kenya Cup title they last won in 2007 after beating surprise package Kabras Sugar 27-3 in a nail-biting final at the RFUEA grounds on March 14.

Kabras, who were making a maiden appearance in Kenya Cup, had shocked many teams to reach the final.

Kabras stunned 2013 and 2014 champions Nakuru 15-12 while KCB beat Strathmore Leos 24-21 in Cup semis.

Nakuru would settle for third place after beating Strathmore Leos 21-25 in the play-off as Thika RFC lifted the Nationwide League title following their 13-11 success against Bungoma Sharks in the final.

Both Thika and Bungoma have earned promotion to the 2015/2016 Kenya Cup league. KCB, fresh from defending their 2015 Impala Floodlight title after beating hosts Impala 26-16 on October 31, lifted Enterprise Cup after thrashing Homeboyz 28-0 in the final on April 18.

Nakuru RFC gain made history by becoming the first team outside Nairobi to emerge the Kenya National Sevens Series champions 2015 after collecting a total of 91 points.

Nakuru, who had previously won Dala Sevens and Prinsloo Sevens tournaments, also reached the Plate semi-finals at Christie Sevens and the final at Driftwood Sevens.

Nakuru had made history as the first club outside Nairobi to win the Kenya Cup rugby league title of the 15s version of the game in 2013 and 2014.