Innocent Simiyu appointed as Head Coach of Kenya 7s Team

The appointment of Simiyu comes after an intensive interview process last month in which he topped a shortlist of four candidates Simiyu, Dennis Mwanja, Paul Murunga and Nick Wakley.

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU.co.ke) is excited to announce the appointment of Innocent Simiyu as the Head Coach of the Kenya 7s Team.

The appointment of Simiyu comes after an intensive interview process last month in which he topped a shortlist of four candidates Simiyu, Dennis Mwanja, Paul Murunga and Nick Wakley.

Following a KRU board meeting on Monday 1st September 2020, we would like to confirm Simiyu as the Head Coach having attained top marks in the interview. The panel had Thomas Odundo, KRU acting CEO, Paul Feeney, former Kenya 7s Head Coach and Peter Harding, World Rugby High-Performance consultant.

Pertinent issues arising from the Paris 2018 tournament were discussed with Simiyu and both parties have agreed on a working formula.

The Kenya 7s team has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but the HSBC World Sevens Series seems to be in doubt with the Dubai / Cape Town and New Zealand / Australia legs cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Namcos, as he is fondly known, is a former Kenya International and handled the team on the Sevens World Series between 2016 and 2018. He steered the team to 12th position with 63 points during the 2016/17 season before guiding them to 8th position with a record points tally of 104 points during the 2017/18 season.

(With Inputs from APO)