NAIROBI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand national Ian 'Snook' Roberts has set his sights on leading Kenya 15s team to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Speaking after being unveiled by the local governing body - Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) on Thursday in Nairobi, Snook who will be assisted by countryman Murray Roulston believes the East African nation has the talent to make the global showpiece.
Snook who has worked with world champions, New Zealand All Blacks and Roulston signed two year deals each to be in charge of the Kenya 15s side commonly known as Simbas.
"I'm confident we have enough time to get them through. My assistant has the technical and tactical knowledge that is hard to come by even in New Zealand and by taking the head coach role, I will be taking a little bit of pressure off him to do what he does best," Snook stressed.
He replaces South African Jerome Paarwater who was relieved of his duties by KRU last December after leading Simbas to second in the Africa Gold Cup behind Namibia.
His previous stint in Africa was in 1996 and 97 when he was the Director of Coaching and Provincial Coach, Border Rugby Football Union, South Africa and his prime responsibility will be winning the 2018 Gold Cup to qualify automatically for the World Cup.
"Kenya is a team that can play exciting rugby, with the physique and balance brought by most of the players, teaching new ideas becomes easy. I'm confident working with my assistant Murray, things will fall in place as we seek to deliver on team development," he added.
The New Zealander stressed his teams will be selected on merit to give every player in the national team set up a chance to prove they are worthy of the shirt.
"We have a more holistic approach in playing confidently against the bigger sides in world rugby so as to build confidence all round for the players," he added.
Kenya have never qualified for the Rugby World Cup, the closest they came being the 2015 edition where the team failed to advance on superior aggregate.
Namibia got the nod during the 2014 qualifiers alongside automatic qualifiers South Africa.