NAIROBI, December 14- Paul Treu’s inglorious reign ended with a 24-5 defeat to Canada at the Bowl finals of the Nelson Mandela Bay 7s on Sunday in Port Elizabeth.
Canada proved to be Kenya’s waterloo with the hat-trick after defeating Kenya 19-12 in the Shield final in Dubai last week that followed a 40-7 mauling at the same stage during the HSBC World Sevens Series opener in Gold Coast, Australia.
Sean Duke impressed as Canada capitalised on a better than even share of possession with tries to Mike Fuailefau and Lucas Hammond in the first half.
Duke picked up a well-deserved five-pointer just after the break extending Canada’s lead to 17-0.
Earlier, Canada came from 14-7 down at the break against Wales with three unanswered tries to Conor Trainor, Sean Duke and Ciaran Hearn securing a 24-14 victory and booking their place in the Bowl final, while Kenya edged out France 14-12.
It was a deflating climax for South African Treu who announced the stunning decision to step down from his post after his home tournament due to infighting among Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) leaders.
“t has been a very difficult decision, but I believe it is the right decision for me at this stage in my life.
“It has just been over a year since I accepted the offer from the Kenya Rugby Union to take charge of the team. We have experienced interesting times that is for sure. We have had challenges; highs and lows.
“We know that this is the nature of sport and the game of rugby that we all love. If it was not too easy, we wouldn’t know the joy of achieving our goals and knowing we worked hard to make them happen,” he said in his resignation statement on Friday.
Brought to qualify Kenya to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the country failed to harness on the expertise of the former South Africa head coach who laid the foundations of the current potent Blitzbokke who won their second Main Cup in a row following their Dubai success.
KRU boss, Mwangi Muthee set off the sequence of events that saw Treu call it a day last week with a scathing attack on his directors whom he accused of frustrating the South African.
Tellingly for the country, his predecessor who was also forced out of the post, Mike Friday, led USA to a stunning Plate final win over giants Fiji as his new side continues to make shockwaves in the race for the Olympics where the top four finishers will qualifying automatically.
Kenya on the other hand, are working to lose their core status in the World Series and remain stuck on 14th in the standings on 11 points from the first three legs after adding seven in their best outing of the season thus far.
