Kenya Lionesses close pool play with gritty win over Colombia in HSBC Challenger Series

The Kenya Lionesses wrapped up their pool matches at the HSBC Challenger Series with a determined 12-5 victory over Colombia on Friday, 11 April.

After back-to-back defeats to Thailand, the Lionesses needed a strong response - and they delivered. Second-half tries from Grace Adhiambo and Sinaida Nyachio sealed the win in a tightly contested encounter.

Colombia had matched Kenya for much of the game, but it was the Lionesses who found another gear after the break. Adhiambo opened the scoring following a slick offload from Nyachio. A brief pause followed as the referee consulted her assistant to review the pass for a possible forward—ultimately ruling in Kenya’s favour. Nyachio calmly added the conversion to give Kenya a 7-0 lead.

Moments later, Nyachio turned scorer, capping off her standout performance with a well-worked try. Though the conversion went wide, Kenya extended their lead to 12-0, giving themselves some breathing room in the closing stages.

Colombia responded with a late unconverted try, but Kenya held firm in a tense finish marked by aggressive tackling and a battle for territory.

Despite their earlier stumble against Thailand, the Dennis Mwanja-coached side had already secured a place in next month’s HSBC SVNS playoffs in Los Angeles - a key step towards earning core status in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

With knockout fixtures looming, the Lionesses will look to build on this gritty win as they chase promotion to rugby’s top tier.

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