Jean-Luc Barthes, General Manager, Africa  Region, IRB  at the RFUEA grounds. He has come to grace 2013 Africa Cup sevens to be held in Mombasa. [PHOTO: MARTIN MUKANGU/ STANDARD]

By BS MULAVI

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) was on Wednesday put to the task as they hosted International Rugby Board (IRB) General Manager for Africa region Jean-Luc Barthes at the RFUEA Ground.

Barthes is in the country for the Confederation of African rugby 7s trophy due in Mombasa on Saturday and Sunday, and in his trip he conducted an audit of the KRU to find out how efficiently the Union is being run.

“The KRU receives funding from the IRB and we just needed to know that the money is being put to good use,” he said.        “Our main aim in the audit is to find out who does what in the union and if the roles are well defined,” he explained.

“So far it is not looking very bad and we feel that significant progress has been made in how the day to day business is carried out,” he added.

Increased confidence

Barthes went further to explain that a well run union would definitely mean increased confidence and a better chance of increased funding, but he dismissed any chance of Kenya getting any immediate increases.

“Funding is also pegged on performance of the national team and so we have to wait to see how the team will fair in the run up to the World Cup in England, and also in the tournament itself,” he explained.

“For now we can look at options such as bringing in a professional to give advice on general administration of the Union, we are currently looking at how that can be done through our South Africa office, which has already been involved in previous development projects with Kenya,” he said.

 “Our main aim, would be to have high performance training systems in place in addition to helping developing sides like Kenya get more international games that would help them develop their systems of play to the levels of the top playing rugby sides,” he concluded.

Barthes was hosted by KRU chairman Mwangi Muthee amongst other officials such as the Chief Executive officer Jack Okoth and former national team coach Michael Tank Otieno.

Otieno expressed the honuor of having a top official in the country and he said that they were optimistic that the trip will yield progress for the country.

Meanwhile, former Kenya Sevens international player Innocent Simiyu will take charge of Kenya’s second string side in the upcoming regional tournament in Mombasa.

Kenya will be fielding two sides in the tournament, and Simiyu boasts of a strong side laden with youth and experience.

His squad features Dennis Muhanji, Chris Asego and Mike Agevi who have made several appearances for Kenya on the IRB Sevens World Series, as well as Kevin Keegan and Charles Omondi who have been part of the 2012/2013 Kenya Sevens squad.

They will be facing tough opposition in Pool A where they face Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Morocco.