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Kenya Sevens head coach Innocent 'Namcos' Simiyu. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu

Rugby

Namcos fired as Kenya sevens head coach, former England 7s assistant coach takes charge

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11 – Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu has been fired as the Kenya Sevens head coach after a spate of poor results, and his place will now be taken by former England 7s assistant coach Damian McGrath.

Simiyu has been fired less than two weeks after Kenya lost its Africa 7s title and squeezed in to the World Cup by the skin of their teeth after finishing third. The team has also had poor results in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Also leaving the technical bench are strength and conditioning coach Michael Shamiah and Anthony Muchiri.

McGrath has been appointed on a two-year contract and will be assisted by Kevin Wambua who was part of Simiyu’s backroom staff while Geoffrey Kimani returns as the strength and conditioning coach.

The English tactician has been handed a two-year contract which will see him take charge of the remaining matches of the World Sevens Series, the Commonwealth Games in his home country as well as the Rugby 7s World Cup in South Africa.

His contract takes him all the way through to the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

“The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) has opted to part ways with Innocent Simiyu, Head Coach of the Kenyan men’s national sevens team, Shujaa. Also leaving the Shujaa set up are technical benchmembers Michael Shamiah and Anthony Muchiri,” a statement from the Union said.

It added; “We offer our sincerest thanks to Innocent, Michael and Anthony for their tireless efforts and extend our very best wishes for the future.”

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McGrath comes in with a rich CV around him. He boasts close to thirty years coaching experience, having most recently led Germany 7s to victory at the World Rugby Challenger Series in Chile in 2020.

He previously coached Canada 7s between 2016 and 2019, leading the Canadians to the cup title at the 2017 Singapore 7s.

Prior to the Canadian job, Damian was in charge of the Samoa 7s squad during the 2015-16 season, leading them to the cup title at the 2016 Paris 7s.

He also coached England 7s at the 2002 and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Glasgow as well as the 2005 Rugby World Cup 7s in Hong Kong.

Namcos was in his second stint as head coach of the national team, but results were not just coming in for him. 

The team did not do as well as was expected at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the performance at the world series was wanting while the results at the Africa 7s in Uganda proved to be the last nail on the tactician’s coffin.

 

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