NAIROBI, Kenya, August 28- Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) boss, Mwangi Muthee, has cooled reports appearing in a section of the press that immediate former South Africa head coach, Paul Treu, has been appointed as the new man at the helm of the national sevens side.
“Kindly treat those as rumours. I will make a comprehensive statement on the appointment of our new coach on Friday,” Muthee, who declined to confirm of deny the man who has led the Blitzbokke for eight years was in line to replace Englishman Mike Friday who was sacked after the Rugby Sevens World Cup in Moscow.
Treu, who coached the South Africans for eight seasons the country’s longest serving national coach, won 14 tournaments on the HSBC World Series in this time as well as one IRB World Series title.
His contract is due to end in October and it is unlikely to be renewed by the South African Rugby Union.
The popular coach, who has been linked with the USA as well as Kenya following his announcement after the World Cup in Russia that he would not continue in the role, led Blitzbokke to the quarters of a tournament where Kenya featured in the semis.
Treu is known to be a master tactician and has implemented great structures in Sevens rugby in the country, even though he is not always able to call on the best players as Sevens falls below the Super Rugby format in the pecking order and teams are often unwilling to release their players for Sevens duty.
He followed Faamoni Lalomilo (Samoa), Ben Ryan (England), Friday and Alex Magleby (USA) in vacating from his position.
“I have had a wonderful time at Saru and would like to thank the organisation for the opportunity they have given me. We have had some wonderful highs in the past 10 seasons and I hope I have added value to South African rugby.
“This was a decision I had thought long and hard about for some time and those close to me will know that it was something that I had agonised over. But I believed the time was right to move on – both for me and the team – and I wish them all success in the future,” Treu said while stepping down from his role.