Kenya Lionesses battle hard to overcome Uganda in epic East African derby contest
The match was a physical contest that had Kenya benefitting from a numerical advantage on four occasions during the match as Uganda suffered three yellow cards and a sending off.
Kenya Lionesses battled hard on Friday evening to overcome Uganda 10-5 in an epic East African derby contest that served as the finale of Pool A matches in the Second Leg of the 2025 HSBC Women's Challenger Series.
With both teams having defeated Belgium in their earlier Pool A matches, Kenya and Uganda went into the match knowing that victory would secure passage to the semi-finals and hence an opportunity to contest for the main cup title which Kenya won last week after defeating Argentina 17-12 in the final of the First Leg of the series.
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Lionesses coach Dennis Mwanja made no change to his starting seven, keeping his faith in Christabel Lindo, Sheila Chajira, Sinaida Nyachio, Judith Okumu, Grace Okulu, and Sharon Auma.
Uganda, who finished 8th last weekend, pushed Kenya to the limits as they defended resolutely and attacked aggressively.
The match was a physical contest that had Kenya benefitting from a numerical advantage on four occasions during the match as Uganda suffered three yellow cards and a sending off.
The first of these occasions came in the first minute when Uganda had Samiya Ayikoru sent to the sin bin, according Kenya an opportunity to take advantage of their superior numbers to score a try through Grace Okulu in the 3rd minute.
Okulu's conversion was poor, an action Kenya was to regret as Uganda fought back to equal the score through Lydia Namabiro who outpaced the charging Lionesses to get over the try line. Fortunately for the Lionesses, Mayimuna Nassozi's try was poor and the first half ended with the two teams deadlocked at 5-5.
The second half was even more fiercely contested as both teams had players sent to the sin bin and neither benefitting from the numerical advantage. Nassozi was given a yellow card in the 11th minute and she was soon followed to the naughty chair by Kenya's Sheila Chajira's one minute later.
Kenya survived this tense passage of play by kicking the ball to Uganda's 22 and restricting them there as they tried to score a match-winning try while a playing with a player less.
An opportunity presented itself for Kenya to win the match at the death by Sinaida Nyachio's poorly-taken penalty forced the match to extra-time.
Extra-time saw Uganda reduced to six players after three players as Nassozi was sent off after getting a second yellow card.
It got worse for Uganda a minute after Namabiro was sent to the sin bin and this time Lionesses made their superior numbers count as Chajira charged past a barrage of challenges to score the match-winning try.
The win saw Kenya topping Pool A and booking a semi-final date with Colombia who won Pool C.
Kenya will play Colombia on Saturday at 4:18 PM EAT for a chance to qualify for the final where they can meet either Czechia, Group B winners, or South Africa, Group C winners.
The Lionesses currently lead the Series with 20 points following their triumph next weekend and a similar performance will put them in a strong position to earn promotion to the top flight.
After this leg of the series, Lionesses will rest for one month before travelling to Poland for the final leg which will take place in Krakow from 11-12 April.
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