It's time for the Kenya Rugby Union to clean up the house

It's time for the Kenya Rugby Union to clean up the house or step down. [Photo: Phillip Orwa, Standard]

The latest happenings in the national sevens rugby team have exposed the weaknesses bedeviling many sports disciplines.

The woes in Shujaa camp range from cancellation of a Sh20 million sponsorship deal by Brand Kenya, to players boycotting training due to non-payment of salary.

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) then sacked head coach Innocent Simiyu over what happened in Paris leg of the World Sevens series when players blocked out the name of the sponsors from the team jerseys.

That this is happening when the sevens team is expected at next month’s (July 20-22) Rugby World Cup in San Francisco, USA raises a lot of questions on the leadership at KRU.

The team achieved a historic 104 points in the last season and was expected to take the momentum to the World Cup.

Going by the latest events, and with the 19 contracted players coming out to clear the air, Kenya faces a tall order in USA.

 Although everyone should be held responsible for their actions as far as the Paris incident is concerned, Brand Kenya and union officials have made hurried decisions that will greatly hurt the sport.

KRU has a responsibility to ensure all is well with the game and the sacking of the coach is just a case of treating the symptoms and not the disease.

If they cannot sort out the standoff, they should step down and let another leadership prepare the team for the World Cup.