- Dennis Mwanja has done an amazing job so far as the Kenya Lionesses head coach.
- Mwanja schooled at Musingu High School.
- He has previously coached the Thika Millars RFC.
Kenya Lionesses registered excellent performances in the first and second legs of the World Rugby Challenger Series 2025.
The Lionesses, who won the two legs held at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa outlived the expectations that most people had placed on them.
They won all their matches in the tournament, including in the finals where they stunned Argentina and hosts South Africa.
The Dennis Mwanja-coached side defeated Argentina 17-12 in the final of the first leg that took place on March 3 before demolishing Springbok Women 17-0 in the final of the second leg on March 8.
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Some of the other nations that the Lionesses overcame in the entertaining tournament include Samoa, Uganda, Poland, Colombia and Belgium.
The team, which was placed in Pool D in the first leg alongside Samoa and Poland, started their Challenger Series campaign on a high thanks to a 20-05 demolition of the former.
In their match against Poland, the Lionesses improved the level of their performance to secure a huge 29-07 victory, a result that guaranteed them a semifinal slot where they narrowly beat South Africa 19-15.
Similar to the first leg, the Kenyans were also unmatchable in the second leg where they defeated their Pool A opponents Belgium 17-05 before thrashing their East African neighbors Uganda 10-05. The two wins ensured they progressed to the semifinal where they came from behind to annihilate Colombia 12-05.
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Prior to the start of the Challenger Series, Mwanja had vowed to teach Kenya’s rivals South Africa a lesson and true to his words, the Lionesses obliterated the Springbok women in the two games they played against them.
“We look forward to the Challenger, the venues. It is an open secret South Africa will be given a double leg. And it would be awesome to capture them, arrest them at home, in their backyard, in front of their children and parents,” he told Two5Four Rugby then.
The exemplary outing in South Africa helped Kenya to sit at the top of the Challenger Series standings with 40 points, six ahead of the second ranked nation South Africa.
However, despite the gallant display from Lionesses, very little is known about their head coach Mwanja.
SportPesa Blog takes a brief look at the profile of Mwanja, who is popularly known as “Iron Man”.
Who is Dennis Mwanja?
Mwanja is a Kenyan rugby coach who is currently in charge of the Kenya national women’s 7s rugby team.
Mwanja, who was born on March 19, 1988, has previously played for the KCB RFC and the Kenya men’s national sevens team.
During his playing days, Mwanja, who donned the Shujaa jersey numerous times, was a force to reckon with.
His most memorable game for Shujaa came in 2007 where he scored a hat-trick of tries to help Shujaa beat England 17-07 at the San Diego 7s.
According to the Shujaa Pride Website, Mwanja managed to score a total of 57 World Rugby 7s tries in his career.
Besides coaching the Kenya Lionesses, Mwanja has also held managerial positions at KCB RFC and Thika Millars RFC.
He was the head coach of Thika Millars RFC, while at KCB RFC, the Musingu High School alumni served as an assistant coach.
Mwanja’s achievements
Mwanja has played a crucial role in the growth of women’s rugby in Kenya.
For instance, he helped Kenya qualify for the World Rugby Third Tier XV Championship in 2023 after guiding them to a 52-03 win over Cameroon.
In addition, Mwanja was among the coach of the year nominees in the 2022 Soya Awards alongside the likes Japheth Munala, David Waore, Sammy Kiki and Gibson Weru.
Finally, the future of the Kenya Lionesses looks brighter and with Mwanja at the helm, the team is capable of qualifying for the prestigious HSBC SVNS Series this year.
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