On Saturday 8th March 2025, the Kenya Lionesses celebrated International Women’s Day with a convincing 17-00 victory over South Africa in the second leg of the Challenger Series held at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
The Lionesses drew first blood in the first half as 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.
KENYA GO BACK-TO-BACK IN CAPE TOWN 🏆🏆@kenyalioness defeat South Africa 17-0 to claim their second win of the #7sChallengerSeries 🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/sfkOMvTva3
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) March 8, 2025
The Kenya Lionesses were confident and their focus was unfazed as they kept on attacking the Springbok Women’s defensive line in the second half. Captain Grace Okulu was tasked with the second half restart, kicking the ball deep into South Africa’s half. The Lionesses’ defensive line quickly and stealthily following the ball and putting South Africa under pressure which resulted in SA’s winger Ayanda Malenga knocking on the ball inside their 22.
Both teams traded a few ball handling errors, however, Kenya emerged more clinical when they had the ball in hand. Off a scrum in South Africa’s 22M line, Sinaida Mokaya sent the ball to the experienced Sheila Chajira who then passed it to the mercurial winger Sharon Auma. Sharon’s pace was no match for the Springbok Ladies as she made her way to the try line to land a converted center post try extending the Lionesses lead to 12-0 with three minutes left on the clock.
Head Coach Denis Mwanja made changes after this play, Sharon was replaced by her equally fast teammate, Freshia Oduor who landed the Kenya Lionesses winning try. She landed a corner post try but the conversion was unsuccessful bringing the full time score to 17-00 in favour of Kenya Lionesses.
On their way to the final, Kenya Lionesses beat Colombia 12-5 in the cup semifinal while in the Pool matches, they had beaten Belgium 17-05 and Uganda 10-05 in the golden point.
Kenya make it into back-to-back finals in Cape Town! 🤯#7sChallengerSeries | @kenyalioness pic.twitter.com/mkEWolqPNw
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) March 8, 2025
“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 of the ball and using our chances, being able to utilize our opportunities. In the final, I told the players to go and leave it all on the pitch.” Said Head Coach Denis Mwanja.
“We lost to South Africa in Tunisia 2023 and again in Ghana 2024 so this victory is poetic justice for us. The girls believed in themselves and they beat SA in this final. Let us enjoy this moment and then after a week’s rest, we are back to training ahead of the third leg of the Challenger Series in Poland.” he concluded.
The Ladies are now top of the table with 40 points from the two tournaments in Cape Town.
How things stand as the final 16 teams head to Krakow 👀#7sChallengerSeries pic.twitter.com/Hfa13Mh2wd
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) March 8, 2025
Kenya Lionesses score card
Pool Match: Kenya 17 – Belgium 05
Pool Match: Kenya 10 – Uganda 05
Cup semifinal: Kenya 12 – Colombia 05
Cup Final: Kenya 17 – South Africa 0
