The Kenya Rugby Union might boycott this year’s Elgon Cup, it has been revealed. KRU feels the tournament doesn’t help in the growth of the sport in the country considering that several Ugandan players are now playing in the Kenya Cup league including Kabras Sugar talisman Philip Wakorach.
In addition, KRU and Uganda Rugby Federation are at loggerheads after it emerged that the latter has, alongside Tunisia and Morocco, fronted one of their own, Andrew Owour, to take over the position of the Rugby Afrique vice chairman. The move didn’t go well with Anglophone nations, who are rooting for KRU chairman Richard Omwela. Omwela is in his final two months of his term at KRU and was expected to move to the continental.
“Rugby Afrique was started in Tunisia and then Morocco took over, now they want it back to Tunisia with Khaled Babboue as the president and they have chosen Owour as the his vice. Kenya and other countries are wondering whether we belong to this organisation, we are protesting this act,” a source at KRU said.
The source added that boycotting the Elgon Cup could be the beginning of more if the relationship is not mend. The nations in support of Omwela believe they have earned their place at the top seat in the Rugby Afrique based on their performances compared to those of their French-speaking countries in Africa.
Meanwhile, KRU will not renew the contract of the Kenya Fifteens coach head Ian Snook. Snook is currently in New Zealand his contract will end in April. The move not to renew their contracts is based on the fact that the Union doesn’t have any immediate plans for the National side and it’s still unclear if they will play any Test Matches this season.
The New Zealand coach was signed last year to replace Jerome Paarwater and his immediate task to guide the National side to this year’s world cup but Kenya failed to win a single match in the repechage qualifiers.