The late Mike Okombe.[Photo/the-star.co.ke]
It was nonetheless another demoralizing year for the Kenya rugby community as the demises of five active and two former players dominated key events and accomplishments instigating a prayer day hosted by KRU at the Nairobi Chapel.
Rugby deaths
Kenyan international Mike Okombe would then be stubbed to death in early November and just hours after his death, former Homeboyz skipper Peter Wekesa, elder brother of the late Andrew passed on following a tragic accident in Mombasa. Former Kenya Harlequins forward George Gachui and Mumias’ Thomas Aseka also passed on to make it six losses in a year.
Encouraging performance
However, it was encouraging that the national women’s team, under head coach Kevin Wambua, put forth a stellar performance this year, reaching a first-ever cup quarter-final during the HSBC Women’s Sevens World Series qualifiers in Hong Kong.
Lionesses also finished as runners-up in the Africa Sevens women’s cup, falling 12-17 to the defending champions South Africa at death. Lionesses, however, pocketed a lucrative Commonwealth Games 2018 ticket alongside South Africa and will be representing the country in the top tier event in Gold Coast, Australia.
Paarwater sacked
After five years of service as the head coach for the Kenya 15s rugby team, it was unbearable for senior Simbas players to part ways with Jerome Paarwater after a dissatisfied KRU ended the tactician’s reign. Kenya Simbas’ performance this season was marred by a couple of unseen losses which forced KRU’s hand.
Mixed fortunes for Simbas
Simbas kicked off the year with a 29-30 loss to Germany in May in an international Test match. The match was aimed at propelling Kenya close to the top 20 in the World Rugby rankings but the target was not achieved as Kenya currently lie at position 30. Kenya also retained the Elgon Cup title courtesy of a 56-51 aggregate score.