Kenya Lionesses defeated Uganda Lady Cranes 23-3 in a Rugby Africa Women’s Cup match played on Wednesday, November 2nd, at the Mutesa II Stadium in Kampala, Uganda.
The Lionesses have now qualified for the 2023 Rugby Africa Cup matches, where they have joined African powerhouse South Africa and Namibia.
Despite being at their home ground, the Cranes failed to go past the Lionesses and had the Kenyans play mostly on their (Uganda) territory.
15 minutes into the game, the Lionesses did a repeat of their match against Zambia. From the lineout, Dennis Mwanja’s charges deployed patience, and the forwards amazingly covered enough ground, before the ball landed on Christabel Lindo’s hands to put the Lionesses ahead. An attempt to convert went wide.
The game’s temperatures rose but the unrelenting Lionesses piled enough pressure on the Cranes to make them commit mistakes, adding Kenya another three points.
In the final half, Grace Odhiambo scored a dropkick to confirm the Lionesses’ lead at 11-0.
However, this time the Lionesses lost it and Ugandans earned a penalty and only points in the game.
Christabel Lindo continued with her prowess and quickly went past a gap in the Ugandan’s defence for a five-pointer. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
Lionesses continued to pile pressure on the Ugandan’s backline forcing them to infringe and they collected three more points.
Towards the end of the game, Rose Otieno who started from the bench impressed with the last try of the game, and Ann Goretti converted the try for a 23-3 victory resulting in frowns across the Mutesa II Stadium.
The Lionesses have qualified for the inaugural 2023 Rugby Africa Cup which serves as a qualifier for the inaugural World Women 15’s WXV in 2023.
