The 2019 KRU Women’s Festival kicks off this Sunday, 3rd February at the Kenyatta University Grounds.
This season will have a total of nine teams participating: Defending Champions Standard Chartered Impala Ladies, Top Fry Nakuru, Northern Suburbs, Shamas Rugby Foundation, Homeboyz RFC, Mwamba Ladies, Comras, Bladbabes and the new Kisumu Rugby Dolphins.
“The ninth team during each leg will be one of the upcoming teams. This is why we are having the Kisumu Dolphins participate in this first leg of the Festival. We have had a total of five new ladies’ teams fronting their bid to participate in the league; Chuka University, Bomet University, Egerton Hornets, Masinde Muliro and the Kisumu Dolphins. We are hopeful that they will showcase their talent in the league.” said Nicholas Aballa, the KRU Women’s Rugby Coordinator.
The tournament format will have three pools and the top team per pool advances to the Cup semifinals. The three teams will be joined by the best loser to complete the semifinals pairing. Teams five to eight will face each other in the ranking semifinals while the team that finishes ninth will be relegated automatically.
Pool A hosts the Impala Ladies alongside Shamas and Comras, Nakuru Ladies, Homeboyz and the hosts Kenyatta University make up Pool B while Pool C has the Northern Suburbs, Mwamba and the Kisumu Dolphins.
The National Team players are also required to participate in the first three legs of the Women’s Festival as part of their training program ahead of the World Rugby Sevens Qualifiers later in the year in Hong Kong.
