- Lionesses produced an outstanding comeback to beat South Africa 19-15 in the entertaining semifinal.
- Kenya will play against Argentina in the final of the first leg of the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series.
- Lionesses are the only team to score against South Africa since the start of the tournament.
Kenya Lionesses moved a step closer to lifting the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series title on Sunday evening after stunning South Africa in an epic semifinal.
Lionesses squeezed past South Africa with a 19-15 victory in an end to end tie that was played at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa.
The hosts were the first to open the scoring with less than two minutes gone into the match when Nadine Roos sprinted down the left wing to bag her third try of the tournament.
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Ayanda Malinga scored the second try for South Africa after a brilliant run from Roos to put the reigning African champions 10-00 ahead.
With about 110 seconds remaining to the end of the first half, Naomi Amuguni broke away from the South African defence and went on net a try. The Kenyan team made a successful conversion to reduced the gap to three points.
Sharon Auma then put Kenya 14-10 ahead at the stroke of the half time thanks to a sensational run try that saw her sprint down the middle like a scared rabbit.
In the second half, Lionesses started from where they left, causing the hosts constant trouble.
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After South Africa’s player Maria Tshiremba was yellow carded, Lionesses managed to score their third try to gain a 19-10 lead.
The Dennis Mwanja coached team continue to play impressive rugby as the game progressed, breaking down South Africa’s attacks with ease.
Although South Africa, who defeated Kenya 12-07 in the final of the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers, managed to get a third try and increase their points to 15, it was too late for them to overcome the Lionesses.
Kenya will now play Argentina in the final of the first leg of the Challenger Series from 8:54 PM East African Time (EAT).
Argentina booked a ticket to the final after securing a narrow 10-05 win over their South American counterparts Colombia.
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