Sasha Mutai has explained why the former players’ input will be important in light of Kenya Sevens’ relegation from the World Series as he woos more sponsors.
Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) chairman Sasha Mutai has revealed that talks are underway with former Kenya Sevens stalwarts Collins Injera and Biko Adema over making them part of the Shujaa coaching setup.
Injera and Adema were part of the hugely successful Kenyan teams between 2009 and 2016 before hanging their boots recently and with Shujaa suffering relegation from the World Rugby Seven Series in the just concluded season, KRU looks keen to tap into their experience.
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Shujaa are currently coached by Englishman Damian McGrath but there have been murmurs of discontent in some quarters on why a local coach was not preferred given the success of the late Benjamin Ayimba and Innocent Simiyu but Mutai feels while having locals on the technical bench is good, whoever is in charge should have the requisite skills and experience.
“We have started talks with Collins Injera and Biko Adema to get them into the coaching setup. However, they must first go through the training of World Rugby. Others have gone through Level Two but they must reach Level Three,” Mutai told Look Up TV on Saturday.
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Shujaa were relegated from the HSBC World Rugby Series in May.
“For 15s, we have the highly trained and experienced Jerome Paarwater from South Africa and we have high hopes that he will take us to the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
“We have Kenyans coaching the Lionesses (Dennis Mwanja), Chipu (Curtis Olago) and we have Kevin Wambua as an assistant in the Sevens team but we also need a highly skilled coach who has coached at a high level. We want to turn pro from January next year. We will have six teams that will play in a super series,” he added.
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His sentiments come two weeks after Injera revealed his desire to coach the Sevens team in the future to pass on the knowledge he has gathered over the years.
Mutai also revealed the financial losses KRU is set to incur following Shujaa’s relegation while explaining how he plans to regain the lost glory of Kenyan rugby.
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“SportPesa gives us Ksh42 million per year and we were getting Ksh38 million from World Rugby. Now that Ksh38 million will not come because we have been relegated,” said Mutai, who was elected KRU chairman in March.
“Our annual budget for the World Sevens Series is Ksh141 million so this is just like a quarter that we were getting so we need more sponsors to put money in the team so that we are able to get back to the World Series as well as the Olympic qualifiers.
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“The last time we bought a gym was in 2013 when I was vice chairman. Now 10 years have passed so we need equipment to improve the players training but we have the talent.”
Mutai also feels having more sponsors on board will not be enough if the union still does not have the necessary infrastructure to discover, harness and nurture rugby talent.
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“At KRU, our assets are worth Ksh15 million only and we don’t even have a pitch. At RFUEA, we are tenants, so for Shujaa to train there we have to rent. That is why we want to be given our land in Kasarani so that we can build our own stadium,” he said.
“We are also in talks with the Ministry of Education to have rugby as one of the core sports in the school curriculum.”