Former Kenyan captain appointed national sevens Head Coach

Former Rugby Kenyan captain Innocent Simiyu has been named the new Kenya 7s head coach.

The former sevens and 15s coach beat a strong field of distinguished coaches who had been shortlisted to take over from Benjamin Ayimba whose contract expired last month.

The #Kenya7s Technical Bench has been named. pic.twitter.com/PhnNIztjcR

— Kenya Rugby (@OfficialKRU) October 17, 2016

The shortlist included Ayimba, Ben Ryans (Fiji Head Coach), Gordon Tietjen (Samoa Head Coach) and former Australia coach/player Michael O’Connor.

Simiyu was last week rumoured to be Tietjen’s deputy in the new sevens technical bench, but the former New Zealand coach later chose to take up the Samoa sevens job instead.

The 33-year-old captained the Kenya Sevens between 2006 and 2008 and the 15s side from 2008 to 2011.

The Kenya sevens team in April won their first ever maiden world series title in Singapore after stunning Fiji in the main cup final.