The year 2024 will in many ways go down as a year of firsts and returns for Kenya Rugby, from Shujaa getting back to the World series, playing at their third Olympic games, to Chipu lifting the Barthes trophy outside our borders, Safari sevens being hosted in a new location and Lionesses hosting a standalone fifteens test match, and the return of the Rugby Super series.
2024 had a sprinkle of everything, the Kenya Harlequins claiming their first sevens series title in 12 years, Kabras chalking back-to-back unbeaten season for the first time ever, Mwamba ladies going back to back, to back in the Kenya Cup, South Coast Pirates becoming the first team from Kwale County to play in the country’s top flight XVs league, to the Menengai Oilers winning their first XVs title in eight years.
Join us as we take a look back at the year 2024…
The year started on a high, as Shujaa and the 7s Lionesses made it to the Dubai 7s Challenger tournament Cup finals on 14th January, with Shujaa claiming the title with a 12-5 result against Chile, as the Lionesses fell 19-5 to a Chinese side that would prove a tough challenge throughout the year. The marker was set!
Back home, the XVs leagues were starting to take shape, with the trio of Kabras, KCB and Menengai Oilers leading the way in the topflight Men’s Kenya Cup, as Mwamba and Impala did the same in the Women’s league.
In the Championship, South Coast Pirates and Western Bulls had laid the early marker in the race for promotion with Impala and Daystar close behind. In the Nationwide the Kabete Stallions, Mombasa, TUM Marines and Zetech Oaks had the early advantage.
March brought with it a bag load of action, first with the Kenya Cup, Eric Shirley Shield and Championship play offs, as Kabras and KCB made it a third meeting in a row, seventh overall in a Kenya Cup final, with 37-9 and 21-12 results against Nondies and Menengai Oilers, respectively.
Mwamba ladies punched their ticket to their third Kenya Cup final, off an 81-0 result against Shamberere, with the Northern Suburbs beating Rongo 29-9 to book the other slot in that final.
In the Championship, South Coast Pirates claimed their maiden Kenya Cup slot with a 30-15 result over Daystar Falcons, with Impala booking their ticket back to the topflight courtesy of a hard fought 12-11 result over Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
On the international stage, the 7s Lionesses finished 8th at the Montevideo Sevens, after losing 27-22 to Hong Kong. The Shujaa on their part finished third, off a 31-12 win over Chile, following a 21-14 loss to Hong Kong in the Semifinals.
The month of April belonged to Chipu, as the side claimed the continental Barthes Trophy, with a 28-13 result over favourites and hosts Zimbabwe, in Harare. That win meant the Chipu class of 2024, became the third Kenyan side to play at the World Rugby Junior Trophy after the classes of 2009 and 2019.
Back home, Mwamba Women completed their Kenya Cup three-peat, courtesy of a 53-0 result over the Northern Suburbs.
On the men’s part Kabras completed their three peat Kenya Cup title run, this time making it back-to-back unbeaten Kenya Cup seasons with a convincing 29-5 result over KCB. As the KCB Cubs claimed their fourth consecutive Eric Shirley Shield title, with a 28-0 walkover result over Kabras II.
May 4th 2024, marked the return of the Rugby Super Series, at a wet and muddy RFUEA grounds, after a decade long hiatus. The Kabras Sugar Buffaloes (Kabras Sugar, Kisumu, Catholic Monks, Masinde Muliro and Western Bulls) took on the Menengai Oilers Cheetahs (Menengai Oilers, Nakuru, Homeboyz, Impala, Kabarak University and University of Eldoret) at noon, with the KCB Bank Lions (KCB, Kenyatta University Blak Blad, Mwamba, JKUAT Cougars, South Coast Pirates and USIU Maritals) facing the Faiba Mobile Rhinos (Kenya Harlequin, Nondescripts, Strathmore Leos, Daystar Falcons, Mean Machine and Mombasa) at 3PM.
The Cheetahs would see off the Buffaloes 15-5 in the first match, in a match that Quinto Ongo and Felix Okoth, who was named man of the match, dictating proceedings. The Lions would then roar to a 29-7 win over the Cheetahs, with Bob Muhati of the Lions picking up the Man of the match accolade.
The Menengai Oilers Cheetahs would eventually claim the Super series title in May, after beating the KCB Bank Lions 18-10 in the final at the RFUEA after rounds in Nakuru and Kakamega, with veteran Elkeans Musonye from the Cheetahs named man of the match, his franchise mates Quinto Ongo and Amos Nyamanya picking up the top points scorer and player of the tournament awards.
Shujaa and the sevens Lionesses continued their Challenger campaigns in June, with the men finishing in 5th in Munich after a 48-0 result over neighbours Uganda, after a narrow 19-17 loss to the hosts. Those results meant Shujaa finished second overall to Urugay and would have a stab at getting back to the world series, having qualified to play in the core team qualifier play off in Madrid.
The sevens Lionesses narrowly missed out on the play off tournament in Madrid after finishing fourth in Krakow (Poland) off a 26-7 loss to Belgium, which saw the ladies finish fifth overall, outside the play off bracket.
Kabras completed their second undefeated XVs season in June, with a 32-20 result over KCB in the Enterprise Cup final. Zetech claimed the Nationwide title off a 31-13 result over TUM Marines, with the two earning promotion spots to the 2024/25 Championship league.
After 378 days in the cold, Shujaa booked their place back as a core side in the 2024/25 HSBC World Sevens series, with a 33-15 result over Germany.
Heading in the other direction were Mean Machine and Shamas who opted not to participate in the Championship league, with Homeboyz and Catholic Monks being relegated from the Kenya Cup league.
The cold month of July, brought with it international action with Chipu on duty at the World Rugby U20 Trophy in Scotland, the Simbas at the Rugby Africa Cup in Uganda and Shujaa at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France.
At the Edinburgh Rugby Stadium, Chipu had a gutsy outing finishing in 8th, following notable 7-25, 17-30 and 14-34 results against Uruguay, USA and Hong Kong. Their big brothers playing in Uganda, finished in fourth following 36-17 win over Senegal and consecutive 12-20 and 27-38 losses to Algeria and Namibia.
Over in Paris, the Shujaa started off on a promising note with a 31-12 loss to Argentina in opening Pool B match, eventually finishing in 9th place after 19-14 and 10-5 wins over Uruguay and Samoa, respectively.
Kabras Sugar set the early pace in the 2024 SportPesa National Sevens series as they lifted the Christie title on 28th July, what would follow would be an eventful, three-month, topsy turvy, battle for the overall crown, pitting Kabras, Quins and KCB, eventually won by the Kenya Harlequin, at the wire, in the last leg of the series at Nakuru’s NAC grounds. Ending a 12 year wait for an overall sevens title for the quartered shirts.
In August, the Kenya Rugby Union board appointed long serving Director of Rugby, Thomas Odundo (T.O) as the new Chief Executive Officer. T.O who until then, was holding both the Director of Rugby and C.E.O dockets (in acting capacity).
In September, the XVs Lionesses who had hoped to play in the World Rugby WXV3 tournament in 2024, hosted Madagascar in a warm-up test match for the Malagasy, storming to a historic 63-19 result at the RFUEA.
The Safari Sevens took center stage in October, with the tournament being hosted outside Nairobi for the first time in its history between the 11-13th, at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos. The three-day tournament saw Shujaa lift the men’s Robin Cahill Trophy with a 12-0 win over Shogun rugby, as the Costa Blanca Barbarians beat the Kenya 7s Lionesses 24-10 to claim the women’s title.
The Menengai Oilers kicked off the 2024/25 calendar, ending their eight year wait for a fifteens title, with a 42-3 win over hosts Impala, ending KCB’s five-year winning streak. Mwamba women claimed the ladies category, with the Rift Varsities taking home the Universities title.
The Simbas claimed the 2024 Elgon Cup in November, off a 21-5 result at the Kings Park Bweyogerere in Uganda, following a narrow 27-25 result in the first leg played at the RFUEA grounds in Nairobi.
November also saw the renewal of SportPesa’s sponsorship of the Shujaa, with M-Pesa coming on board to support both the Shujaa and 7s Lionesses.
With the 2024/25 calendar year now underway, with Shujaa having played the opening two legs of the world series in Dubai and Capetown, as well as the local XVs season kicking off, here is wishing all the best to all participating teams, may the bouce of the rugby ball be in your favour!
From the Kenya Rugby Union Board and Secretariat, here’s wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2025! See you all next year!