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Kenya Lionesses players after their win in South Africa. [World Rugby]
In a weekend where the world celebrated the International Women’s Day, the national rugby women’s Sevens team Lionesses flew the Kenyan flag highest after winning their second World Rugby Challenger Series on the bounce in South Africa.
The impressive Lionesses celebrated their special day with a convincing 17-0 victory over South Africa to win the second leg of the Challenger Series held at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
Naomi Amuguni landed the first try of the match as she rounded her defender to give Lionesses an early 5-0 lead. The conversion attempt by Sinaida Mokaya was unsuccessful, Kenya holding on to the 5-0 to half time.
In the final half, the Lionesses emerged even more confident as Sharon Auma outpaced two defenders to score between the posts for 12-0 lead.
Freshia Oduor came off the bench to round off the scores as Kenya sit top of the Challenger Series with 40 points after winning the opening two legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series qualifiers.
On their way to the final, Kenya Lionesses beat Colombia 12-5 in the cup semifinal, while in the Pool matches, they defeated Belgium 17-05 and Uganda 10-05 in the golden point.
The Challenger series starts with back-to-back events in Cape Town, with the top-ranked eight men's and women's teams progressing to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman's Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11-12 April.
Top eight women's teams, Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Thailand, Czechia, Poland and Uganda, celebrated International Women's Day by qualifying for the next round in Krakow.
Reflecting on their second World Rugby Sevens Challenger win in Cape Town, the captain, Grace Okulu said they are confident as they continue to build on their goal of making to the series.
“This is the first time we achieved back-to-back wins in the Sevens Challenger and we are now Challenger champions. We are now ready for anything," said the former Nakuru star.
“Playing against Uganda and Colombia was tough for us and in the semifinal, our girls looked a bit rattled. In the Colombia game we wanted to keep possession and use our chances, being able to utilise our opportunities,” said head coach Denis Mwanja.
“We lost to South Africa in Tunisia 2023 and again in Ghana 2024 so this victory is poetic justice."
The four men's and women's teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Offs on May 3-4.
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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