Kenya Lionesses confident ahead of giant-slaying mission against South Africa

Photo Credit: Kenya Lionesses.

RUGBY Kenya Lionesses confident ahead of giant-slaying mission against South Africa

Mark Kinyanjui 09:51 - 24.05.2023

Kenya will face South Africa on Wednesday at 1 PM in the ongoing Rugby Africa Women's Cup.

Kenya Lionesses hooker Knight Otuoma says the team is very much prepared for the stern test of facing South Africa in the ongoing Rugby Africa Women’s Cup taking place in Madagascar on Wednesday evening.

The Lionesses beat hosts Madagascar 29-20 in their opening game on Saturday, while South Africa brushed aside Cameroon 87-0 to put them top of the table.

Otuoma believes that South Africa will be a different test to Kenya altogether, but one that they are prepared to face

“We’ve met South Africa before. We played them both in 2019 and 2021. We know that the game will be very physical and we will be ready and we are very very much prepared for the task at hand,” Otuoma said.

Head coach Dennis Mwanja’s charges will not have forgotten the South Africans too quickly having lost heavily to them the last time the two sides clashed in August 2021.

The African giants made light work of their East African rivals in a two-match series, thumping them 66-0 in the first match before scoring a last-gasp try in the second one to win 29-22.

The winner of this continental showpiece will qualify for second tier of the newly-launched World Rugby WXV whereas the losing finalists will feature in the third tier of the same competition.

These are part of efforts towards an expanded 16-team women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 by providing as many teams as possible with opportunities to compete and improve standards of women’s rugby worldwide.

Kenya will take on South Africa at 1:00 PM local time at Stadium Makis in Antananarivo. You can access the match live on the Rugby Afrique Facebook page.