Has local rugby team Kenya Harlequin finally turned the corner from a difficult period?
That is a question to ponder after career soldier, Paul “Pau” Murunga, guided them to their first National Sevens Circuit title in 12 years.
Impressive Quins edged out Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad 22-5 to finish fifth in the play-offs of the Prinsloo Sevens, the sixth and final leg of the 2024 National Sevens Circuit a week ago today.
That performance in Nakuru saw Quins, who won the Driftwood Sevens, finished second at Christie Sevens and Kakamega Sevens and third at Dala Sevens and Kabeberi Sevens, top the standings with 97 points.
The 2016 champions Kabras Sugar, winners of Christie Sevens, finished second with 88 points as defending champions KCB settled for third spot with 86 points.
When Murunga joined Quins for the 2022/2023 season, the proud Ngong Road-based club had just avoided relegation from the Kenya Cup.
Quins and Impala had tied on 17 points. Quins escaped the big axe by virtue of having the better head-to-head count against Impala.
Kenya Harlequin F.C. head coach Paul Murunga during the interview in Nairobi on September 18, 2024.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
Murunga, 42, joined Quins in May 2022 and bang into the season’s National Sevens Circuit. He guided the team to an uninspiring eighth-placed finish. Quins did not make a single semi-final.
They faired better in Kenya Cup reaching the semi-finals play-offs where they lost to eventual tournament winners Kabras Sugar 22-8.
Come the 2023 season, Quins reached the final at Prinsloo Sevens and semi-final at Kisumu to finish sixth overall.
Murunga, a World Rugby Level II certified coach, seemed to be onto something.
When he came to Ngong Road he found a depleted, ailing side with little quality young blood.
“The big letdown I think was that they had not done recruitment of young players and talent identification for depth and growth,” said Murunga, who now had the huge task of recruiting from high school and colleges. “It was about depth creation.”
The retirement of several former Kenya Sevens and Kenya Simbas internationals like Patrice Agunda, Eden Agero and William Ambaka literally left Quins a shell of its former self.
Kenya Harlequin F.C. head coach Paul Murunga during the interview in Nairobi on September 18, 2024.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
Murunga, who stands at six feet and two inches in his socks, says that after signing between the dotted lines with Quins he know he had a tall order on his hands
His immediate task was to form a new team, making sure he recruited players that were not only fast and young but also able to play well.
“I had to put in place a team that would help in talent identification; get quality, young and skilful players that could take us through several seasons,” said Murunga.
They recruited mostly from under-19 and under-20 national team players that were being handled by Curtis Olago.
Murunga noted that they had the best pre-season preparations for the 2024 sevens season even though they were lucky to retain most of their players from the two previous seasons for instance Lucky Dewald, Amon Wamalwa, Arnold Onzere and Richel Wangila.
“We had eight weeks of preseason training even though there was some slight interference after we contributed some players to the Rugby Super Series,” said Murunga, who got players into the gym, worked on their skill level, speed and strength.
Kenya Harlequin F.C. head coach Paul Murunga during the interview in Nairobi on September 18, 2024.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
Murunga also attributes his victory to a robust technical bench that had Agunda and Agero in addition to Simon Ocholla, who has a knack for talent identification and skills training.
Quins hosted the opening leg of the national series, Christie Sevens, fighting to the final where they lost 17-12 to Kabras.
“Our target this season was to win the Christies and set pace for the rest of the season but still reaching the final gave us some good momentum,” said Murunga, who won the 2016 and 2018 series with Homeboyz as coach.
Quins moved to Kakamega for Ingo Sevens where they were able to meet their target, beating KCB 17-12 in the final to move to the top of the series standings….
Ex-Kenya Sevens Coach Paul Murunga looks on during their training session on May 9, 2019.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
At Dala Sevens, Kisumu, Quins’ chase for a double took a blow when some of their key players Leon Nyang,Wiseman Anganya, Albert Alela and David Williams were injured. They ended up finishing third after edging out Masinde Muliro 24-19 as Kabras beat Menengai Oilers 17-5 in the final.
The injured might have returned for Kabeberi Sevens but were not up to the task as Quins, once again, finished third, beating Catholic Monks 33-14. KCB tamed the Oilers 29-7 in the final to lift the title.
Quins topped the standing by two points ahead of Kabras and eight points ahead of KCB heading to Driftwood Sevens in Mombasa this month. Winning Driftwoods by beating KCB 15-12 meant that Quins were 11 points ahead of KCB and nine ahead of Kabras.
They only needed to reach the Cup semis at Prinsloo to be mathematically guaranteed the national title.
They failed to make the semis but did just enough to own the 2024 championship after their chief rivals KCB and Kabras also faltered.
Kenya Harlequin celebrate after winning the SportPesa Sevens Circuit at the Nakuru Athletics Club on September 15, 2024.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
Harlequins had topped their pool in Nakuru and looked well on their way only to be stunned by Nondescripts in the quarter-finals in a 15-12 loss.
The same Nondies, who had played a big hand in preventing KCB from getting out of their pool, shocked Kabras with an upset 15-5 victory in the semi-final.
This was Quins’ first sevens circuit title since 2012 and their fourth after previous victories in 2005 and 2006.
The Murunga-guided Quins, in the end won six out of six in Mombasa and Kakamega, reached the final at Christie, semi-finals at Kabeberi and fifth at Prinsloo.
“These results meant that apart from attack, our defence was brilliant. We won our legs unbeaten or conceding few tries,” Murunga said.
The statistics tracked by Tisini, a date and tech firm, bear him out. The new champions made a cumulative 514 tackles, the most by any team in the series.
Quins dominated the Tisini Player Impact Tracker, with 10 of their players making the top 100.
According to the Tisini tracker Wamalwa recorded 26 line breaks the third best figure in the circuit.
Murunga is happy that the results are coming in fast, having finished third in the Kenya Cup in 2022/2023 season and fifth during the 2023/2024 season.
Murunga noted that in the last Kenya Cup season, they had some technical hiccups after losing most of their front row players.
Cornelius Mokoro and Melvin Theuri left for Romania, Waraba Brian went to Canada while Wylite Mususi transferred to KCB. “All these were national team players.”
Murunga has recruited close to 66 male and femal players who are now into their sixth preseason week ahead of the 15s season.
The former international loose forward states that their target in the upcoming Kenya Cup is to finish in the top two position in the regular season to guarantee them an automatic place in the semi-finals.
