NAIROBI - Kenya fired its national rugby union coach Jerome Paarwater on Monday after five years in charge during which he came close to leading the country to a maiden World Cup appearance.
Kenya Rugby Union gave no reason for the sacking of the former loose forward, who helped oversee the revival of the struggling team, nicknamed the Simbas, or Lions in Swahili.
Under his leadership, Kenya lost to Zimbabwe in the final match when needing only a point to qualify for the 2015 finals in England.
“Jerome has been a key influence for the Simbas, guiding the team up the world rankings,” KRU said.
Paarwater, who is also an employee of Western Province, has been in charge of the WP under-21 side since 2016.
The Kenyan team is yet to match the success of its Sevens squad, which has emerged as one of the teams to watch in the World Sevens Series which kicked off in Dubai this weekend.
The Shujaa, as the Kenya Sevens side is known, reached the 5th place play-off at the weekend's Dubai Sevens, where they lost against Australia (19 - 12).