Rugby changes worrying - Daily Nation

The national rugby sevens team has been handled by as many as eight coaches in the past 10 years.

Its latest tactician, New Zealander Paul Feeney, last week followed Benjamin Ayimba, Mitch Ocholla, Mike Friday, Paul Treu, Felix Ochieng, Innocent Simiyu and Paul Murunga through the revolving door. Only Friday, who is in charge of USA, lasted two seasons.

Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) have indicated that Feeney, who is already back in his country, resigned to be with his family owing to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, there seems to have been underlying issues that forced him to terminate his three-year contract just under a year into the job.

Some of the issues are not new, and the more KRU continues to ignore them, the more the sevens team slides into oblivion.

Rugby unions that thrive at the World Sevens Series enjoy long-term plans for their respective teams, which, sadly, KRU lacks. When a team lacks basic things like gym equipment, then the managers of the sport have simply lost the game plan.

And while we lack such essentials, other nations have gone a step further and embraced science and technology in their training.

When Ayimba, who handled the team in 2010, made a return in 2015, he guided it to its only Series victory — at the 2016 Singapore Sevens.

That foundation was destroyed when his contract wasn’t renewed. Feeney’s team was wobbling through the 2019-2020 season when the coronavirus struck.

 Kenya is placed 12th with 35 points and only three places above the relegation line.

KRU ought to up their game. With both the men’s and women’s teams having qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which were pushed to next year, lack of consistency and vision in the management of the sport is the last thing anybody would like to see.