Naomi Amugune (left) of Kenya fends off Patience Musah of Ghana in a Pool 'A' match of the Africa Women’s Sevens Cup at the RFUEA grounds in Nairobi on November 15, 2025.
After playing bridesmaid to South Africa twice, home team Kenya Lionesses are looking to go better when the continent’s best teams converge on Nairobi for Rugby Africa Women’s Cup that starts today (Saturday) at the RFUEA grounds.
Kenya Lionesses expect fierce opposition from defending champions, South Africa Bokkies, who are chasing a record fifth crown. Uganda and Madagascar complete the roster for the four-team championship that will be contested on a round-robin basis in a period of one week.
At the end of the round robin contest, the bottom team will be relegated to the Rugby Africa Division 1 championship, and will be replaced by Tunisia.
Naomi Amuguni of Kenya Lionesses (left) evades Yvonne Najuma of Uganda as she charges towards the try line during the Safari Sevens at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on October 11, 2025.
The north African nation has been promoted to Africa’s top tier competition after winning the lower-tier Rugby Africa Division 1 Championship.
South Africa start their title defence in the competition against Madagascar’s Lady Makis at 2pm on Saturday, before Kenya Lionesses go on the prowl against Uganda’s Lady Cranes from 4pm.
After playing second fiddle to South Africa since Rugby Africa Women’s Cup championship was introduced in 2019, Kenya Lionesses will look to make the most of home advantage and impose themselves strongly against the southern Africa opponents.
South Africa and Kenya are the favourites in the 15s tournament, and are expected to replicate the same dominance they showed in Rugby Africa Women's Sevens tournament.
The championship was not staged between 2020 and 2023 due to the coronavirus pandemic that disrupted sporting activities globally.
With nine players from the squad that reached the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, South Africa is the team to beat. The team also has nine new players in its ranks. Another eight players in the squad were not at the World Cup but have played for Springbok Women before, making the southern African nation the clear favourites.
But the rest of the teams are narrowing the gap. In the 2025 championship, South Africa beat Kenya 19-12 and overcome Uganda 62-7 and Madagascar 61-17.
Kenya Lionesses team celebrates after clinching silver at the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Madagascar by defeating Uganda 49-0 on June 15, 2025.
South Africa hosted the inaugural 2019 championship, beating Kenya 39-0, Madagascar 73-0 and Uganda 89-7. Kenya Lionesses finished second after beating Uganda 37-5 and Madagascar 35-5.
Madagascar hosted the next three editions in 2023, 2024 and 2025 which were won by South Africa. South Africa beat Kenya 48-0 in the 2023 championship that also involved Madagascar and Cameroon. The Lionesses finished second.
In 2024, Kenya finished third after losing to eventual winners South Africa and Madagascar 29-22 and 63-5 respectively. South Africa beat Kenya 12-9 in the decisive match of the 2025 championship.
“We are repeating the exercise that worked well for us last season,” Bokkies Head coach Swys de Bruin told South Africa Rugby website this week.
He has not traveled with the team to Nairobi though.
Kenya Lionesses coach, Simon Odongo, will only miss the services of France-based fly-half Grace Okulu in his squad that is co-captained by Mwamba prop Natasha Emali and Impala scrum-half Judith Auma.
Odongo’s side is boosted by national sevens team players Janet Okello, Stella Wafula and Faith Livoi.
“We lost to South Africa by seven points last year but they still look formidable, having played at the World Cup,” Odongo said. “We head to the tournament with one clear objective, to finish at the top.”
Last year, South Africa, who gave represented Africa in five editions of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, reached the quarter-final of the global competition for the first time, losing to New Zealand 46-17.
Selected Fixtures:
May 26, 2026
South Africa vs Madagascar - 2pm
Kenya vs Uganda - 4pm
May 27, 2026
South Africa vs Uganda - 2pm
Kenya vs Madagascar - 4pm
May 31, 2026
Uganda vs Madagascar - 2pm
South Africa vs Kenya - 4pm
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