Change of guard awaits Kenyan rugby in 2019

Oscar Simiyu of KCB dives for a try in their Kenya Cup match against Menengai Oilers at RFUEA grounds on Nov 17, 2018. [Jonah Onyango]

Next year is set to be an event-filled year in the local rugby scene.

The highlight event being the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) elections to be conducted during the KRU Annual General Meeting in March.

The polls, which will see a change of guard at the helm of the country’s rugby governing body, will surely be key in determining the Kenyan rugby course for the next four years.

For the hopefuls, it has always been a case of making promises in a bid to woo the electorate but some have not lived up to the expectations after ascending to the throne.

It is the hope of each and every Kenyan rugby stakeholder that those mandated to pick the holders of various positions in the board, in this case, the chairpersons of clubs affiliated to the KRU, will make sound decisions that will help the sport develop.

Away from ballot matters, the national 15s team Simbas will be involved in the re-branded Africa Gold Cup as they seek to atone for their 2018 undoings when they failed to book a slot at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Starting July 2019, the Gold Cup will adopt a new format where the eight sides will be divided in two pools of four each with matches of each pool taking place in one country in a round-robin format.

Winners of each pool will then face off in the final and the team with a better point-tally in the preliminaries will host the decider in November.

Having missed the 2015 World Cup by a whisker, It would only have been prudent for Kenya to go back to the drawing board and device a long-term plan of making it to the 2019 showpiece.

This, however, could not have been easy for a union that has constantly grappled with financial challenges in recent times due to lack of a stable sponsorship.

Before the Simbas travelled to France for the four-nation World Cup qualifier, the union had to hold a fundraiser and also came up with a paybill for the team, this summing up their financial struggles at the time.

Meanwhile, the national under-20 team, nicknamed Chipu, will also be in action in 2019 as they seek to wrestle the Barthes Cup from holders Namibia.

Chipu, who are coached by Paul Odera, will face Tunisia, Senegal and the Namibians in a round-robin phase between March and April.

It is from this competition that Africa’s representative at the 2019 Junior World Rugby Trophy in Brazil will be found.

Locally KCB will be chasing a third Kenya Cup title in as many seasons when the 2018-19 campaign concludes in May.

The bankers, who successfully retained their crown in 2018 after making light work of Kabras in the final, also defended the Floodlit title with a win over hosts Impala Saracens.

The Curtis Olago-coached side, however, failed to complete a treble after relinquishing the Enterprise Cup which was won by Homeboyz.

Kabras Sugar had a perfect start to the season, which promises a tight fight in 2019.