Dennis Mwanja hails Kenya Lionesses’ team spirit ahead of HSBC Challenger Series second leg

Kenya Lionesses celebrating their victory at the first leg of the 2025 HSBC Challenger Series in Cape Town. (Photo: KRU)

By Michael Kirwa
Thursday, March 6, 2025

The Lionesses face Belgium (4:55 pm EAT) and Uganda (8:36 pm EAT) on Friday.

Kenya Lionesses coach Dennis Mwanja has expressed satisfaction with the progress his team are making as they prepare for the second leg of the 2025 HSBC Challenge Series which kicks off on Friday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kenya Lionesses go into that leg of the series with their confidence boosted by winning the first leg last weekend after defeating Argentina 17-12 in the final to clinch their first-ever victory at the HSBC Challenger Series, a competition they first featured in 2022.

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Speaking ahead of their Pool A matches against Belgium (4:55 pm EAT) and Uganda (8:36 pm EAT) Friday, Lionesses coach Dennis Mwanja said that the team is in a good state of mind and is looking forward to another great outing.

“The team is ready to hit the ground running tomorrow and give their all. This is an exciting time for women’s rugby in Kenya and the Lionesses as a whole,” Mwanja, a former Kenya Sevens player, said.

Mwanja also shared an update on the team’s preparations as they aim to earn promotion to the World Rugby Sevens Series next season by maintaining their current form.

“The girls warmed down with a gym session on Monday evening before taking the day off on Tuesday to rest and recover,” Mwanja said before emphasising that the day off for rest was necessary to keep his team fresh for its weekend assignments.

Leadership positions

Mwanja credited the team’s success last weekend to the players stepping up into leadership positions, a factor which he believes made it easy for them to accomplish the coaches’ vision.

“We had a field session on Wednesday, during which we polished our strategy and tactics. We will have a similar session today but it will be led and owned by the players,” Mwanja said.

“Last weekend we saw the players leading and owning the process and we encourage them to continue doing the same as having more leaders in the team, makes it easy for players to accomplish the vision of the coaches,” Mwanja added.

Lionesses can clinch promotion to the top flight competition with wins in Cape Town this weekend and the third and final leg of the 2025 HSBC Challenger Series which will be played in Krakow, Poland, on 11-12 April.