Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) today fired Shujaa sevens head coach Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu, shortening his term by four months.
The former Shujaa and Simbas Captain led the former to their record 104 points in the 2017/2018 HSBC World Sevens Series, which was the best performance for kenya seven-a-side national team.
With four months left on his contract, Simiyu was to lead the forthcoming Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, United States that will start on July 20 to 22, putting the extravaganza in jeopardy for Kenya’s preparations.
His sacking comes just hours after Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala cancelled the kshs 20 million sponsorship after the players taped the ‘Make It Kenya’ slogan on their jersey during the last leg of Paris7s meeting.
The team had protested the unpaid allowances, an incident,according to Balala embarrassed the Government leading to the termination of the deal.
Simiyu succeeded Benjamin Ayimba who was his coach and led the first seasonwhere Shujaa went down to 13th position in the Series standings on 68 points but recovered in the second term with 104 points, finishing in 8th position.
Simiyu played for Impala RFC centre, captained Kenya Sevens between 2006 and 2008 and the 15s side in 2008 to 2011.
He returned to the pitch in 2014 to coach and play for Impala in the same year, he won the Comeback Award during the Sports Personality of the Year Gala.