Paul Murunga of Homeboyz RFC was on Friday announced as the Kenya sevens head coach on a two year contract ahead the 2018/2019season , replacing Innocent Simiyu. Paul “Pau” Murunga was appointed by the Kenya Rugby union (KRU).
Murunga was appointed in the shortlisted applications which included four foreign coaches. Murunga returns to the national team having assisted Benjamin Ayimba during the 2015/2016 season when they won the first ever World Sevens Series Main Cup title in Singapore.
“We had a shortlist of six coaches ; four foreigners and two local . Murunga’s experience in the team before is what stood out.His ability to handle a team locally and internationally is what sold us. He was Ayimba’s assistant and that’s when Kenya was the most successful having won Singapore and got to the Olympics ,” Kenya Rugby Union.
Murunga has had a successful career with Homeboyz having led them to five of the six finals in the just concluded National Sevens series winning four of them.
He will be assisted by by the Kenya Lionesses boss Kevin “bling” Wambua who will retain his slot as the lioness head coach till January next year.
“We acknowledge Kevin has had a great input in the Lionesses team and he will handle them at the Dubai sevens series as well.The men and women’s game will be played on different days so he will not be disadvantaged.”
” we will let him work with the lionesses for now and in January we will make our assessment and see whether we need a new coach for the Lionesses or he will still be able to double up,” Kamau explained.
The team technical bench is expected to take up their roles immediately after next week Africa sevens in Tunisia which will be outgoing boss Innocent Simiyu;’s final task in his two year contract as Shujaa’s head coach.
Murunga has huge task in charge ahead of him with a target of surpassing the 1-2 point mark set by his predecessor Simiyu in the World Series. His first task will be at the safari sevens in November where Kenya is set to field two teams; shujaa and the morans . A total of eight teams out of twelve have already confirmed participation in the tournament.
Murunga is expected to use the safari seven to fine tune his squad ahead of the first stop World Series in Dubai on November 30.
Murunga is expected to to follow the foot steps of Ayimba and bring the victory to Kenya. The Kenya Sevens is in its perfect condition despite some injuries facing some of the key players.
The coach is expected to receive a lot of support especially from the Kenya Rugby Union and the Kenyan government in terms of the players allowance to boast the team’s morale.
The action by KRU to appoint Murunga shows their trust and belief on the local coaches who have the experience and enough exposure to handle our national team. This is compared to Ayimba’s era where Kenya won the Singapore series in the ball finals which is historic.
The whole eyes of rugby fans are on Murunga to see how far he will take the Kenya Sevens team considering it is the pride of Kenya. It has a huge support base an many fans are passionate about each and every progress made by the team.
The team which is sponsored by Kenya Airways is expected to pick maximum points at the start of the World Rugby Series and even qualify to the World cup.