KRU board denies reports of coach Murunga’s dismissal

Coach Paul Murunga of Rugby 7s during training at RFUA grounds on Monday, Oct 22, 2018. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

With two months to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers, there is growing speculation that Kenya Sevens coach Paul Murunga could be leaving the team barely half-way through his two-year contract.

While Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) officials have in recent days remained coy on Murunga’s future, sources indicate that the former Homeboyz RFC coach has been fired, although the country’s rugby governing body is yet to make a formal announcement confirming his dismissal.

“At the moment, we have no news with regard to any changes to the technical set up. The board hasn’t sat and made a decision so at the moment the technical team is intact,” KRU Vice Chairman Thomas Opiyo said during the launch of this year’s Safari Sevens tournament.

“We still have the set up intact. We probably will have changes. Of course, every team has changes but we have not announced anything yet,” said KRU CEO Sylvia Kamau.

Murunga, who previously deputised Benjamin Ayimba in the 2016 Singapore Sevens-winning team, was appointed as Shujaa head coach in October last year, making his debut at the 2018 Safari Sevens where the side finished second after losing to Samurai Select in the final.

He was on the touchline as Kenya, whose pre-season was marred by contractual wrangles between senior players and their employer, had an underwhelming campaign in the 2018-19 World Sevens Series, surviving relegation by a whisker after picking a paltry 37 points in 10 legs.

With the National Sevens Circuit set to conclude this weekend with the Driftwood tournament in Mombasa, a provisional national team will be named after which Kenya will field two teams at next month’s Safari Sevens in Nairobi, which will serve as a warm-up for the Africa Sevens cum 2020 Olympics qualifiers slated for South Africa in November.

“We have given the technical team three tournaments to look for other potential players and the list is actually building up. Despite a few new names that have come in, most of the guys who participated last season will still be there,” said Opiyo in reference to the selection of a provisional squad that will do duty next season.

“Our intention is to have continuity and we would want the team to be stable both in the playing unit and technical set up,” he added.

After the Olympics qualifiers, Kenya Sevens will have a few weeks to prepare for the 2019-20 World Sevens Series which starts with the Dubai leg in December.