WHO IS TREU’S SUCCESSOR? South African Vuyo Zangqa set to replace Paul as Sevens coach

Former Sevens coach Paul Treu and assistant Felix Ochieng

Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) boss Mwangi Muthee has ruled out hiring a local coach to replace the disgruntled Paul Treu as Sevens head coach.

Treu will step down after this weekend’s Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in South Africa. He becomes the second foreign coach to throw in the towel after Mike Friday.

Previously, the team was handled by Benjamin Ayimba, who had two seasons of success before he was shown the door after the team’s performances started to worry the sport’s bosses.

But speaking in the wake of Treu’s resignation, Muthee said they will still hire a foreign coach to replace the South African.

“We are working hard to have a replacement before the third leg of the International Rugby Board (IRB) series and he will be a foreigner,” he said.

In defending the appointment of a foreign coach, Treu said: “The game has changed tremendously with a lot of scientific and technological knowledge required. It is no longer a simple game of rugby, but rather it has become more technical and at the moment our local coaches are still far off from it.”

“What we need to do is build the capacity of our local coaches by working with foreign experienced tacticians.”

Muthee said it is only by working with foreign coaches will the country catch up with the world’s best sevens teams. “Our poor performance is not because Kenya has become worse, but is due to the fact that other teams have become better. We must change our approach if we want to catch up with the likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji.”

“In doing so, we must strive to do what they do and run the team in a strictly professional manner,” he said.

Muthee further hit out at some of his board members alleging they are frustrating his efforts to develop the game.

“Some of the people I was given to work with do not have the interest of the game at heart and as the chairman, even though the back stops with me, there is very little I can do because these are elected people.”

“As a board, we must know what we want, learn from our mistakes and move forward in a positive way,” he said.

Treu’s resignation came after a poor performance in the first leg of the IRB sevens in Dubai. In a statement posted on the KRU website, Treu said it has been a very difficult decision, to make but believes it was the right decision for him at this stage in life.

“...It has just been over a year since I accepted the offer from the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) to take charge of the team. We have experienced interesting times, that is for sure.”

“We have had challenges; highs and lows. We know that this is the nature of sport and the game of rugby that we all love.”

“If it was not too easy, we wouldn’t know the joy of achieving our goals and knowing we worked hard to make them happen.”