Weekly Ramble

I have always suspected but now I think it is confirmed. The KRFU has no vision for 15-a-side rugby and by extension Rugby in Kenya!

I have been poring over things in my head and bits and pieces of information that keep coming my way and it is astounding to say the least. The KRFU lives for two things! The IRB Sevens Circuit and the annual Safaricom Sevens! That I have no doubt in my mind. Everything else is incidental. Like when SuperSport came in to televise the Kenya Cup finals live, all of a sudden the KRFU wanted to take charge. From having watched the entire preliminary games from their cushy containers offices, they were now dictating how much of the gate money participating teams would get (no prizes for guessing who would keep the bulk) and selling banner advertising and vending (food and other) services. Talk of reaping where you have not sown.. but I digress as usual.

Last week my Ramble was my thoughts on National XV's coach and I hinted a bit as to what I thought. I have always said it and it pains me that our entire local rugby existence is geared towards three days in a year! The attempted pitch closure this week gave the game away. When the pitch is not in use, it is simply looked at. Even despite the good rains we've had since last year, the bare patches on the pitch were not replanted with grass! Reason unknown, yet the pitch was idle for over a month, with rain. Now one month to the event, we are getting stories about six week pitch closures like that is the only thing that matters. Players do not need to train, existing agreements or not and the fact that some teams have been allowed to train betrays the real reason for the exercise. Pitch revamping world wide is done off season and there is even ample time to relay whole surfaces if need be, not bang in the middle of the season! But then nothing else matters, does it? That those three days of the year consume nearly double our annual budget for running all of rugby including development and other programmes just shows the extent of the gravy train that must be protected at all costs. Just looking at the secrecy of the meetings and the secrecy of the recruitment of personnel and the secrecy of the procurement process to the secrecy of the shortlisted companies is amazing. In all the years of this event I am yet to come across any tenders for goods or services yet we are sure we are getting everything at a competitive price? We shall watch and see. Add to that the fact that the club that wins the National Sevens Circuit no longer has a place in this event, I really start to wonder what role this tournament does is promoting Rugby in Kenya. As a social event, it is great, but what other value it has as a rugby event, I cannot see.

I spent too much space on that one. I was just wondering, even as far as development goes, these two articles here and here made me wonder what we are doing to develop our youngsters as well. I am sure we used to get an invite to the Zimbabwe tournament, but I need correction. In the meantime those not doing anything to promote fifteens rugby in this country will be the same ones with longest faces when the team fails to perform to their expectation.

I am yet to hear of, or see a plan to improve the level of fifteens rugby in this country. The clubs are working overtime to do their bit, but I don't see anything more. Different from the approach used in the sevens, top down, with full support of the union, all I see here is the bottom up approach, with nil support from the union!

Bamburi Super Series Update

Victoria 16 Rwenzori 13. Looks like the injury toll was too great.

Bamburi Rugby Series Kicks Off in Uganda

Match 4 of this years Bamburi Super Series kicks off this afternoon in Kampala with 2nd runners' up in last years event Rwenzori facing Victoria. For more details, please visit the official Bamburi Super Series Website. We hope to post the results as soon as they are available.

Ugandan Sides Suffer Injury Losses Ahead of BRSS Kick Off

Following a hard fought league campaign, the Ugandan teams Rwenzori and Victoria have suffered serious losses just before they kick of their matches for the Bamburi Rugby Super Series. First given to us on this blog by a commentator, we have independently confirmed the story and a third source corroborates the information. The Rwenzori side seems more affected and it will be interesting to see how the match tomorrow plays out.

Both Kenya and Uganda have a heavy international season soon after the Super Series and injury or risk of will be a major concern for both national technical teams. Given that the Super Series should prepare the players for the tough season ahead, without too much of a player base, it may prove to be a cause of worry.

We wish the players speedy recovery and the rest a safe and injury free tournament.

Bamburi Rugby Series - Match Day 1 Results

SDV Transami Cheetahs 52 Lions 17 UAP Rhinos 61 Mumias Sugar Buffaloes 0 Nguvu Sharks 79 M Bank Twigas 0.

Lopsided Day 1. Is the Super Series losing its competitiveness? Do we really have the top 240 players in East Africa? Do we have 240 players in East Africa capable of playing at this level? Is the tournament structure skewed?

KRFU block Homeboyz and Kisumu promotion to favour Nondies

In a sensational decision against its own rules the KRFU have decided
to block Homeboyz and Kisumu from being promoted to the Kenya Cup.
This decision is being seen as one to defend Nondescripts from being
relegated. If Nondies were to be relegated then the backers of the
club have threatened to pull out from supporting the Safaricom Sevens.
The KRFU have bowed down to this pressure to the extent of a senior
KRFU board member feeling the heat after he severely opposed the
flouting of rules. The lawyer has since been shunted aside.

Other reasons been forwarded are that Homeboyz are not members by
affiliation of the KRFU and therefore cannot be promoted to the Kenya
Cup. So are they then to be stripped off the Eric Shirley trophy which
they won? Who then sanctioned their participation in the ESS league.
Homeboyz have the backing of the GM and development officer who were
behind the poaching of players from other clubs. The same GM is under
pressure from his own club Nondies to ensure they are nit relegated.
The KRFU vice-chairman is also a nominee of Nondies and the fence
sitting Chairman is also in favour of the status quo remaining.
Majority of the KRFU top brass are not happy with the Homeboyz CEO.

Kisumu on the other hand have been dismissed as a team that cannot
honour away fixtures so they do not belong in the Kenya Cup. They are
condemned to the ESS indefinitely.

Weekend Games

The Bamburi Rugby Super Series kicks off this weekend with four matches on the cards. The Cheetahs comprising mainly Nondies and Impala will kick off the event against the Lions, comprising mainly KCB and Mwamba. Defending champions Rhinos comprising Quins and Nakuru will then face Buffaloes from Western Kenya. University franchise Sharks will travel to Arusha to face the Twigas whilst the Ugandan derby pitting Rwenzori and Victoria will be played on Tuesday in Kampala as they conclude their Uganda Cup competition this weekend.

I will not call anything this weekend as I do not know what to expect. Some teams have had more training time than others whilst others are fairly homogeneous in nature hence will not differ much from club sides. Let us watch and see. As leaked on this blog several weeks ago, this is an interesting read.

Do have a good weekend and take time to vote in our poll on the left.

Weekly Ramble

The Kenya Cup has come to an end and what a dramatic end it was. Even I could not have written such a script but it was well worth the money. And with the end of the Kenya Cup has come the usual debate. Who is the right person to coach the Kenya National Team?

To me I do not think it matters who coaches the team. As we are just so basic in our game. We tend to think that the team that won had the best coach! But is that so? Is it that the coach is a better tactician, able to decipher what is going on in the pitch and act on it? Is it that he infused the best skills and tactics to his players over the season hence his team emerging the best? Is he a visionary, able to visualise plays and moves that other teams find difficult to contain? Or does he have better players? Is he the head of a highly skilled technical team, the win being an effort of that team? Or does he have quality leadership on the pitch in terms of senior players? So just how do you find your best coach?

The route people are advocating for on this blog has been used in the past. You win the Kenya Cup or Rugby Super Series and all of a sudden you should be the coach! And then when you are coach you are not allowed to choose the team to work with, in terms of team manager, assistant coaches, etc. Or worse you get people you cannot cope with imposed to work with you. You are not given all the materials you need, be it hit shields, or a scrum machine, or allowances, or boots for players, or.. ad infinitum! And then you have "selectors" imposed on you, to select players for you and maybe you know who you want already. And all of a sudden you're struggling to replicate the same result at national level that you have had at club level. And the wolves bring out the knives!

That to me is the problem with our fifteens. National Sevens Coach Benjamin Ayimba never won a National Sevens Circuit as a coach. But look how far he has taken led the team. What is needed is structure in the National Team setup, that allows for an objective analysis of what needs to be done holistically to get the team performing at an optimum level. We must get to level where it does not mater who it is, but how he uses what there is. But no... we all want our person in charge. And until we get to that stage where we do not operate on mere whims and fancies, we will stagnate in our progression in the fifteen-a-side code of the game!

That all said and done, the Bamburi Rugby Super Series begins this weekend. That may be the perfect ground to watch these coaches as well and see what they have to offer as all franchises are supposed to have the same resources, in terms of equipment, personnel and training. Maybe we re-ignite all this after the Super Series. I will try and find time to do a major post on fifteens rugby and where I think we can take it some time during the super series. Joy is most games will be live on Supersport and that will give us all an opportunity to watch and perhaps even record and replay the games, over and over.

Do have a good rest of the week. We have a fresh poll on the left. Please take some time and vote on it.

Quins Claim Kenya Cup

Nivea Harlequins put up a solid display of focus and discipline in the second half to recover from an eighteen point deficit at half time to convincingly defeat Kenya Commercial Bank 26-21 in a thrilling encounter played at the KRFU grounds on Saturday. KCB got off the blocks first and raced to a 16-0 lead in under 15 minutes. Quins attempts to come back quickly into the game failed and their fate seemed sealed when they only managed to garner a measly penalty with KCB adding an unconverted try before the break. At this point all but Quins had written themselves off for the trophy.

But the second half was to be a reverse affair. KCB held on for all of seven minutes and by the time Quins scored their first try, the writing was on the wall. The question now was not could Quins win, but would they run out of time for what has now been called "the greatest come back in Kenyan Rugby". This they completed with barely five minutes to spare.

The entire crowd and those watching on Supersport and other channels were treated to an entertaining match and I am sure even KCB felt they lost to a better team. Contrary to my remarks mid last week, the officiating greatly helped the game flow and despite 3 yellow cards meted out during the game, the match was played in great spirit and was entertaining to the end. Kudos Kenya Harlequins for a campaign well fought.

Focus will now shift to the Bamburi Super Series starting on Saturday and to be played in five venues over East Africa.

Path to Riches?

I'm not saying anything, but even if I was, I'm not sure what I'd be saying. But I'm just wondering... a new borehole at KRU grounds, and then this hits the streets... well you say it!

Machine, Homeboyz and Quins win

Mean Machine II win Universities League
Homeboyz win Eric Shirley Shield
Quins crowned Kenya Cup Champions

Go Machine Go.

Quins Win Kenya Cup

In a classic tale of two halves, Quins came from 3 21 down at the turn around to reclaim the trophy they last held in 2008 with a 21 26 victory over KCB. More to come.

Weekend Games

Finals weekend and it's Kenya Commercial Bank vs. Nivea Harlequins. Match kicks off at 4.00 p.m. sharp. It will be preceded by the 3rd/4th playoff between Nakuru and Resolution Impala. Both matches will be live on Supersport.

In the main match, it is the battle of the forwards that will be the key focus of attention. Both sets trying to outdo each other and set up the platforms. However, I feel it is in the backs where this game will be won or lost. The ability of one set of backs to contain the other will be the difference and in this I see the young Quins backs carrying the day. The score will be close and I'll give it to Quins by 3 points, though I expect both sides to score at least three tries.

Last few hours to vote on our poll on the left though most seem to agree with me. Other matches on today will be the Eric Shirley Finals between Kisumu and debutantes Homeboyz. The Universities League final will feature Mean Machine II vs. Spartans of Mombasa. We'll try to get results here after the games.

Kenya Rugby Football Union : More questions on finances

Amazing that the KRFU can get a partner to build 12 million worth of
stands yet cannot get a sponsor for the Kenya Cup. Surely something is
wrong here.

On that note now that KRFU have sold broadcasting rights to Supersport
and clubs need to be told how much it is and what percentage will go
to Impala, Quins, KCB and Nakuru.

What amount of money will trickle down to players in this years
Bamburi Super Series?

What will Safaricom pay the players as an appearance fee in this years
Safaricom Safari Sevens?

When will proper accounts be published for all to see?

Let the Kenya Rugby fraternity have answers from the KRFU. Players and
clubs must also benefit.

Weekly Ramble

Been avoiding this for a long time, but everyone else has had it, so why not them? My ramble today, what direction are our officiating standards heading to? When I used to play rugby, we were not sure whether a referee would turn up or not. Since not many clubs were playing rugby then, the matches were quite few and so once the referee turned up, our thoughts were as to whether he would be fair or not. Interestingly, the question of competence never came up. And with time, we learned to deal with the biased officiating that was rampant, mainly by simply playing better rugby. There is no way a knock on can be called if you don't drop the ball! No forward pass can be called if you ensure the motion is backwards and the person receiving the ball is well behind you. You cannot be blown for handling in the ruck if you keep your hands off the ball and just drive. And I digress as usual.

The IRB Website has listed Kenya as having 518 qualified trained referees. What one would hope is that there is some hierarchy or system of ranking and reviewing referee performances on a regular basis. There should also be a system of monitoring the training of the referees outside of courses and the favored bleep test! And there should be a way to assess the referees practical application or interpretation of the laws of rugby union. If this were so, then we would not be facing a situation where week after week, we see mediocre and incompetent performances by the man in the middle. Suffice to say, bias is no longer the concern, but now it is the competence of the match official. Things have changed a lot. From having the sub who will never play a game as the touch judge, to now having assistant referees and even radio communications devices, we still see situations where wrong calls are made and obvious ones totally missed out altogether. Is it that the players are now more streetwise and push the laws to the limit to test the competence of the officials? Or are the officials comfortable in knowing that they are highly favoured ranked in the system?

A few years ago, we used to get invites to send match officials to the Dubai and George legs of the IRB Sevens Circuit. These days all there is is an ominous silence! Did our representatives then so let us down that we are not even considered any more? Interesting that it is only the referees training contract on the same IRB site that is for a non-Union official. Does this then mean that the union is washing it's hands off the whole thing? Or is it a smoke screen and a ready excuse that they are not involved? The reality on the ground I know is very different!

When players train 3-4 times a week to be in perfect condition for a match, do our match officials train as hard? And as we approach the Kenya Cup finals this weekend, I'm sure the two teams will pick their best players to take the pitch. Will the referees pick their best officials to officiate the match? Or will they pick their most favoured one? We wait and see.

Do have a good week and last chance to vote in our poll on the left. If you already voted for a team that is out, you can change your vote.

Universities League : Machine II in final

Mean Machine II qualified to make the Kenya Universities league Eric
Shirley Shield by beating Quins III in a tough semi at the university
grounds. The campus lads will now face Mombasa Spartans RFC in the
final. Go Machine Go.

Other finals Kenya Cup: Harlequins vs KCB
ESS Club finals: Homeboys vs Kisumu RFC

Quins Complete Finals Pairing

Quins beat Impala 25 16 to complete the pairing for the Kenya Cup Finals. KCB had earlier beaten Nakuru 20 10.

Kenya Cup Semis Update

KCB have qualified for the finals courtesy of a 20 10 win over Nakuru. KCB had to play with 14 men on two occasions and a fight an error prone but torrid Nakuru fight back.

IRB London 7's: Kenya in tough pool

My mama and I are heading to London to watch Kenya Shujaa live outside
the country. That is an experience I am looking forward to. She is
financing the trip as I still a university stident can not afford such
a treat. She really is working class and rugby passionate in excess
just as she is for me.

Kenya Shujaa are in Pool C with New Zealand All Blacks, world champion
Wales and Portugal. What a tough pool for the misfiring Ayimba boys.
Last years bag of tricks has thorougly up.

Pool C: New Zealand, Kenya, Wales, Portugal
Wacha we celebrate at Mwendas tonight and tomorrow I watch the games
on Supersport.

Weekend Games

Semi Finals time and the last men standing will soon also change. A first is that the Kenya Cup semi finals will be broadcast live on Supersport from 2.00 p.m. Despite the short season, I'd say the leagues have been quite competitive and entertaining. In the first Semi, Kenya Commercial Bank will take on Nakuru RFC and then Nivea Harlequins take on Resolution Health Impala.

During the regular season, KCB overcame Nakuru and Quins beat Impala. However, what will matter will be the form on the day. All sides should be at full strength and those with players in the Shujaa squad will also be playing. And that may just change the odds. I expect both games to extremely tight and with a lot of caution.

Given that, I will call KCB over Nakuru by eight points and Quins over Impala by a score or less. Do have a good weekend and do enjoy your rugby! Last chance to vote on our poll on the left.

UGANDA RUGBY UNION MORE BOLDER THAN KENYA RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

Uganda Rugby bosses have taken a much more bolder move than the Kenya Rugby Football Union in deciding to hold their international rugby matches and events at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole. The Mandela National Stadium is similar in size to Kenya's Nairobi West Nyayo National Stadium.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyayo_National_Stadium

There have been calls in Kenya to move the Safari Sevens which this year will be the Safaricom Safari Sevens to a much bigger and easier to access venue. This would be perfect at the Nyayo National Stadium and it would see the game being accessed by common mwananchi at cheaper ticket prices. The Bamburi Series can be a good trial and it is not too late to change. Are the organisers listening? or can Safaricom and Michael Joseph move their event to Nyayo as they make their grand entry into big time rugby sevens?

MANDELA National stadium has welcomed Uganda Rugby Union’s decision to use the facility as a venue for some of its matches.

“We welcome them with open hands. And I can assure them that even if they wanted the venue this week they would have it,” said Swaib Mulinya, the managing director of the sports facility.

URU recently announced that it would shift its international matches to Namboole because of inadequate space at the KRUFC and Kyadondo grounds. Union boss William Blick however expressed worries about possible bureaucratic delays.

Mulinya dispelled such fears in as far as Namboole is concerned. “URU should remember that this facility is run by a limited liabil¬ity company. We can make rugby happen at Namboole faster than URU thinks,” promised Mulinya.

Mulinya explained that all that was required are a few changes in the demarcations of the field.

“That’s something we can work out with them for URU to have a truly international venue.”

South Africa, the 2010 soccer World Cup hosts, is a classic case where the same fields are used for rugby and football. USA, at the 1994 football World Cup con¬verted American football grounds to soccer pitches.

Weekly Ramble

Today I will do just that.. ramble. I was just wondering if all arms of rugby are in sync with each other. Given, I was a firm supporter that KRFU bulldoze its way and realign the season with the International season. I also supported that they should do it irrespective of the sentiments and feelings of clubs. I supported that it should be done in a structured organised way. To belatedly realise that this had to be done is typical of the think tank on Ngong Road once they got the partisan sentiments out of the way.

What I was just thinking today is are we losing something out in all this reorganisation? Has the rugby experience in the country been enhanced for the players, the coaches, the teams and the spectators? Is everybody getting full value for their input? And just what is their input? With only 3 months gone in the rugby calendar, what is supposed to be the "meat" of the season is nearly over. In the meantime, we have had some tournaments, and aborted others from the fixtures. With this squeezed format, are clubs giving their all to the rugby experience and in turn, giving the spectators their money's worth?

The Impala Floodlit saw some teams skip the event as it was too early in the season for them!! No fault of theirs really to be ill prepared for the season, however that dampened the flavour of the event slightly. A few weeks later, we have seen the scheduled Easter Blackrock Festival skipped altogether without even a word as to why. Understandable again as playing a serious match on a Saturday then preparing for a whole day tournament the following day is extremely difficult. The following weekend saw the Easter Great Rift 10-a-Side take place. Once more some teams sent development sides whilst others skipped it altogether!

As much as the cramped season may be playing a role, I also think the camaraderie between clubs is also suffering. Can't say what the reasons are, but in the past all you needed was spread by word of mouth that you have a tournament and all clubs will make every effort to attend and make it a success. Whether the players had to use their own money, or even means of transport, every effort was made to ensure success.

All in all I see the events fronted by the union and union friendly clubs getting stronger and stronger whilst those that kept rugby going for the past 30 years, whilst the union slept, getting weakened more and more. And I wonder, at what cost are we developing our rugby?

As I wish you a good weekend, this was leaked to us a few weeks back and it is now taking momentum. Tomorrow, my predictions for the semi finals.

Many excuses have been given for the performance of the Sevens team this season, and a lot of them have been mainly attributed to the lack of professionalism of our players. There is a lot of sense in this argument but is it the root cause of our inconsistency?
I strongly differ. Despite our obvious lack of monetary resources, we have found ourselves in the in enviable position of having a most experienced, exciting and naturally athletic young side of the circuit. What we have lacked in money we have found in natural explosive talent and experience. I am very sure that Wales, France and Scotland would give up their resources for the natural talent at our disposal.
On a recently published article of the Daily nation Charles Nyende “guestimates “that Kenya has 500 registered players, and states with a matter of fact that Newzealand has 76,000 England 270,000 Canada 48,000, Usa 60,000. If Canada has 48,000 players and cannot produce a decent competitive side why is there then a need for increase our playing numbers from our present 500? I think his analysis doe's not follow a logical flow of argument, on the basis of the "facts" that he has himself provided.
Samoa has been a consistent finalist over the years but their current player base is only 18,511. If player numbers were an important factor then England, South Africa, France, New Zealand, Ireland and Australia , would top the charts and ceteris paribus Kenya , Samoa, Cook islands, Niue, Zimbabwe would have no realistic chance of competing against them.
Sevens is a different ball game that gives Samoa a platform to invest in a small number of naturally gifted players and totally dominate England with its mammoth resources.
The data below is registered male players collected from the IRB website.

Samoa 18,511 France 263,463
New Zealand 131,384 Tunisia 11,114
Fiji 40,687 Namibia 7,207
England 2,116,292 Morocco 6,133
Australia 82,790 Madagascar 17,700
Wales 44,885 Ireland 140,239
South Africa 472,915 Zimbabwa 27,260
Kenya 37,375 Portugal 5,684
Uganda 9,000 Italy 57,562
USA 60,954 Scotland 31,514
Niue 372 Cook Islands 1,680




One cannot also compare the resource demands of a sevens team and those of a fifteen’s team. It is much cheaper and manageable and that why we can compete at the highest levels with some of the richest nations of the world. The lure and promise of big earnings from professionalism is more of a blessing than curse to the amateur sides. At least we can keep our best players together for much longer than NZ, SA, Australia, France and England can before the players seek brighter pastures and become unavailable for selection. If NZ sevens could still have Jane, Messam , Vito, Thompson etc as consistent members of their squad it would be a completely different ball game. The pressures, lure and opportunities of superbly competitive leagues hence act as a ground leveler by luring away player from nations with such opportunities from sevens and gives second and third tier nations to retain strong consistent sides.


So where do we go wrong?

We are the most predictable side in the circuit. Unless something extraordinary happens you can know who will start in our first game three games in London. You can also tell that there will be one player who will not play and two others who will play a maximum of two minutes. You can also tell that Kayange will not be rested at all. We can also tell who will take contact and that Injera will always get the ball with two or three men to beat and that no plays will be devised to get him into space.
In contrast we have no idea which player combinations will take the field for NZ, Samoa, Australia, England and SA. We also know that Asego, Kahutia and Simiyu will miss tackles that will lead to tries, and that their channels will be continuously attacked. Why do we then ask where the problems are?
All this are areas to be worked on by the technical bench. I think if we took the players by themselves we would still get the results we are getting or God forbid, even better.
We can not play the same way in for two seasons which consistently results in our quarter final exit without an examination of how the Coach intends to win a title. This Coach is in need of a performance appraisal not on results but on the application of tactics on a match by match basis, the shortcomings of the same, lessons learnt and future approach. We should have appropriate and different game plans in anticipation of the different approaches our opponents will bring on or alter within a match. Focus should be on all known weak areas of all teams we play when training recommences.

In Short the blame lies squarely with the coach. And explanations that we lost to side that exploited our mistakes or lost due to player fatigue, or a lack of concentration, will not suffice to the loyal fan that takes his time and uses their money to travel abroad to watch a match. Blaming the players for all your mistakes is getting irritating, especially now that he is now fully contracted to concentrate on the team.

I pray that the Coach is indisposed due to a temporary non life threatening condition for the next few months to force the union to engage someone else in his place.

Safaricom Safari Sevens may yet have last laugh as Namibia Rugby Union and TrustCo deal goes Sour

TRUSTCO has threatened the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) with the termination of an N$18 million sponsorship.
The six-year, N$18-million deal is aimed at promoting sevens rugby in Namibia.
Trustco had committed N$3 million a year for the NRU, of which N$2,5 million would go towards the hosting of an annual international sevens tournament and the rest for the national sevens team and the development of the domestic sevens league.
But the marriage is now on the rocks, with Trustco accusing the NRU of breach of contract and sources in the rugby fraternity saying the sponsor wants to renege on the deal.

NRU insiders say Trustco also wants to dump a debt of close to N$1 million on the financially troubled rugby union.
The debt relates to air travel fees for the Namibian sevens team to Dubai in December and accommodation for international teams at a local hotel for the sevens tournament hosted by NRU in September last year.
In a letter dated February 17 2010, Trustco Group International Managing Director Quinton van Rooyen accused the NRU of breach of contract and demanded the immediate repayment of a loan of N$228 000.
Trustco also threatened not to pay any outstanding debts that emanated from their relationship, including the September rugby sevens tournament.
The termination clause in the agreement states that when the agreement is cancelled any debt incurred during the agreement will be the responsibility of the NRU.
N$800 000 is owed to the Safari Hotel for providing accommodation during the sevens tournament and N$228 000 is owed to Sky Travel for the national rugby sevens team’s trip to Dubai in December.

Van Rooyen accused the NRU of being in breach of contract for “incurring expenses in our name without our consent”.
In the letter, Van Rooyen accused the NRU of failing to pay N$140 000 to Trustco by the end of January as part of a N$228 000 loan it owed to Trustco. The sponsor insisted on the immediate settlement of the full amount.
NRU insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the sponsorship deal had turned into a heavy debt burden for the cash-strapped NRU.
Accusations of over-expenditure during the September tournament and failing to “present an acceptable budget” to Trustco are also levelled against the NRU.
But those in the know say the NRU’s responsibility stopped at organising the event, and the business side of the event, such as marketing and promoting the tournament and managing the finances, was left to Trustco. Neither the NRU nor Trustco this week wanted to shed light on the current status of their relationship.
Van Rooyen said the parties were discussing the matter, adding that a statement would be issued as soon as the matter was finalised. “It is in the interest of Trustco, the NRU and in particular Namibian rugby that a practical solution be found as soon as possible,” he said.
NRU president Buks Bock said he could not say anything for now, as they were still waiting for the NRU to enter into talks with Trustco.

What lessons for the Kenya Rugby Football Union from the Namibia experience?