Louis Kisia joins Impala Saracens as new head coach

Kenya Sevens assistant coach Louis Kisia has agreed terms with Impala Club and is set to be named as the team’s head coach, Citizen Digital can report.

Kisia resigned as Strathmore Leos head coach in March this year and has since been hard at work with the national side but will now return to club rugby with the Ngong-road based Impala.

“Now it’s Impala time! Coaching life, that’s how it is; you might find yourself in familiar or unfamiliar territories. I first found myself in unfamiliar territory playing in the Championship with Strathmore Leos and we managed to get back to the Kenya Cup,”he explained. “Impala, very familiar because I’ve coached Mwamba before; it’s a big club, club heritage, and it’s a challenge I’ve taken up. My good friend and legend Oscar Osir approached me, we had discussions about it and being a rugby person, I didn’t hesitate. So, I’ve taken up the task at Impala to see how we can bring back the old good name for Impala.”

Kisia says he got several offers to return to club rugby coaching but he chose to take up the Impala assignment because of the project the team is working on in a bid to return to top flight rugby.

“I had offers; for starters I think for one of the teams it was unfortunate I didn’t take up the role because of proximity,” he said, adding that, “Chairman of Nakuru RFC had approached me but unfortunately because of proximity, my work at Kenya Sevens and now commuting from Nakuru to Nairobi would’ve been tricky for me so that’s why I turned down the offer.”

“In regards to Impala it’s how you take this and how we agreed on terms. Oscar Osir who is the current secretary at Impala was straight to the point and put it as honestly as he could. I saw it favoured me and my coaching philosophy of developing young lads and recruiting properly to boost the team. That’s why I took the offer.”

Impala are currently in the championship and Kisia will have a similar task as he had at Strathmore Leos to take the team back to the Kenya Cup.

The 10-time Kenya Cup winners were relegated to the KRU championship at the end of the 2021/2022 season and are bidding to earn promotion with the latest recruitment of Kisia.

Kisia is one of the top rugby coaches in the country currently, having led Strathmore Leos to the top echelons of Kenyan rugby.