As the year 2025 unwinds Scrummage Africa takes a glimpse on the top 2025 Rugby events to expect this year.
KENYA CUP
The 2024/2025 Kenya Rugby Union regular season is expected to intensify this year with reigning champions, Kabras sugar rugby, looking to defend their title.
The Kenya Cup action resumes this year on 11 January after the festive season break, with a thrilling Ngong Road Derby between Kenya Harlequin and Impala RFC and a Nakuru Derby where Oilers will visit Nakuru RFC.
Kenya Cup contest between South Coast Pirates and KCB Rugby. PHOTO/ Tabby Nashipae
The season is of a one-off format, where top six teams will proceed to the playoffs, semifinals, and the final.
The playoffs are scheduled for Saturday, March 22, 2025, while the semifinals will be played on March 29, 2025, with the final being held on Saturday, April 12, 2025. The KRU Championship and Nationwide will run during this period.
ENTERPRISE CUP
The Cup competitions will this year run alongside the 2024/2025 Kenya Cup season, unlike previous seasons where Enterprise kicked off after the Kenya Cup concluded.
The pre-quarterfinals matches were played on December 14, 2024, with walkovers being witnessed. The Enterprise quarters will be played on February 8 2025 while the semis will take place on March 8 2025, and the final will be played on 19 April this year.
Mwamba Cup quarters are also set for this year where they will be played on February 8 2025 while the semis will take place on March 8 2025 and the final will be played on 19th April 2025.
Kabras RFC are the defending Enterprise Cup champions, having secured their third consecutive title in 2023 by edging out arch-rivals KCB 32-20 in an entertaining final at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi.
HSBC WORLD RUGBY SEVENS CHALLENGER SERIES 2025
HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 will begin with back-to-back events in Cape Town on 1 – 2 and 7 – 8 March. The top-ranked eight men’s and women’s teams will progress to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11 – 12 April.
The four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will then qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles on 3 – 4 May where they will face the bottom four ranked teams from HSBC SVNS 2025 in a high stakes promotion and relegation tournament with four coveted places in future SVNS at stake.
Kenya Lionesses,Uganda are among 11 teams who have secured their places in the women’s competition.
WORLD SEVENS SERIES
The 2025 HSBC Sevens Series will continue this year with four rounds in Perth which will take place on 24-26 January at HBF Park then move to Vancouver, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Kenya 7s squad in action against Argentina at the Olympics Rugby 7s. PHOTO/ World Rugby
Kenya sevens who returned to the World 7s Series in late November will be aiming for positive results this year having finished 10th in Dubai and improving to 7th in Cape Town.
The top eight men’s and women’s teams will compete in the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles, hosted at Dignity Health Sports Park, the venue for the LA 2028 Olympic rugby sevens.
RUGBY AFRICA CUP/RWC QUALIFIERS
The 2025 Rugby Africa Cup, set to be held in Uganda, serves as a two-year qualification tournament for the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup, organized by World Rugby. Kicking off in July 2024, the tournament features eight of Africa’s top rugby nations. Current Rugby Africa Cup champions, Zimbabwe, secured victory against Algeria in the final match of the 2024 tournament held in July 2024.
The 2025 tournament will include participating countries such as Zimbabwe, Algeria, Namibia, Kenya, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
RUGBY SUPER SERIES
The Rugby Super Series is expected on schedule after making the return in 2024. Last year, 2005 champions Buffaloes were based in Kakamega and comprised Kenya Cup Champions Kabras RFC, Kisumu RFC, Catholic Monks and Western Bulls.
Champions Cheetahs were based in Nakuru town and had Menengai Oilers, Nakuru RFC and relegated Homeboyz RFC. Impala, Kabarak University and the University of Eldoret were also included in the franchise.
KCB Rugby, Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad, Mwamba, JKUAT Cougars, South Coast Pirates and USIU Maritals formed the Lions squad while Rhinos had Ngong road club’s Kenya Harlequin, Nondies and varsity side Strathmore Leos. Daystar Falcons, Mean Machine and Mombasa.
EDITOR’S PICKS:
- Follow us on Scrummage Africa FB
- Mike Friday advice to Kenya 7s
- List of laws to be used in Kenya Cup 2024/25
- 1 step forward, 2 back: A story of Kenya Rugby Referees
UGANDA CALENDAR
The Uganda 2025 season is set to commence with the Rugby Championship which will kick off on January 11 together with the women’s and Reserve Championship. The championship will take 18 weeks and conclude on May 3.
Regional fifteens championships will start on February 1 and play the Core Status Playoffs in May just before the National Sevens that will kick off on May 31 to August 17. The regional version is slated for June to July before their Core Status qualifiers in August.
SCRUMMAGE AFRICA KATCH 7S, KSSSA AND EAST AFRICA 7S AND 15S
Scrummage Katch 7’s second edition is slated for May 2025 at Kakamega School with 24 schools expected set to feature. This is set to biggest school tournament in the country this calendar year. This will be a build-up to the KSSSA 7s with the first edition seeing winners Vihiga and St Joseph Kitale win go all their way to win the East Africa 7s title.
Action between Vihiga and Koyonzo during Scrummage Katch 7s. PHOTO/Vicmass
Before the tournament, we will have the school tournaments between January to February as a build-up to sub-county, county, Regional, and National school events. The National 15s will be on 5th – 13th of APril 2025 in Mombasa. The 7s will be held in Nakuru in late July and later City will host the East African Games.
NATIONAL 7S CIRCUIT
The annual National 7s Circuit is expected to light up the calendar from July with six destinations across four cities and one town. Kenya Harlequin are the defending Champions having ended their 12-year wait, beating Kabras RFC and KCB in the tight race.
SAFARI 7S
Rugby fans in Kenya will also be looking forward to the 2025 edition of the annual Safari 7s competition where in 2024 it was held at the Machakos Kenyatta Stadium from October 11th to 13th at the Machakos, marking a historic shift, as it was held outside Nairobi for the first time.
Shujaa will be keen to defend the title after securing their third consecutive Safari 7s title with a hard-fought 12-0 win over Shogun Rugby at Machakos Stadium in 2024, adding to their 2021 and 2023 titles. This marked their first treble since 2008-2010
AFRICA MEN‘S 7S AND WOMEN’S 7S
The 2025 African 7s tournament dates are yet to be confirmed but will also take place with the men’s tournament set to hit the 15th edition edition. The 2024 Africa Men’s Sevens was the 14th edition of the annual African rugby sevens tournament. The event took place at the Labourdonnais Sports Grounds, Mauritius between 29 and 30 June and 6 and 7 July 2024.
Twelve teams participated and Uganda won. The teams played in two tournaments across two weekends in Mauritius. The winner was decided by a series table.
2025 WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP
The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup will be held in England from August 22 to September 27 and England will be looking to lift the trophy for the third time in their history.
This will be the tenth edition of the Women’s Rugby world cup and the tournament will be hosted accross eight cities and venues in England with the final set to take place at Twickenham on September 27.
2025 SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC
The 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season will begin on Friday 14 February 2025, a week earlier than previous years, to accommodate the additional round of Super Rugby Pacific action with a revamped finals system, with just six teams qualifying for the playoffs.
The action begins on Friday 14 February with Kiwi heavyweights the Crusaders and Hurricanes clashing in Christchurch, before the new-look NSW Waratahs tackle the Highlanders in Sydney.
The competition will be stretched across 16 rounds from February 14-15, 2025 to May 30-31, 2025.
2025 SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
European international rugby tournament, the 2025 Six Nations Championship will begin January 31, 2025, and run until March 15, 2025. The first round will be held January 31st to February 1st 2025 with the second round being played from February 8-9 2025.
The third round will be played on February 22nd and 23third, the fourth round on March 8-9 2025 while the final round will take place on March 15, 2025.
2025 RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2025 Rugby Championship will take place from 16th August 2025 to 4th October 2025 and is set to be the fourteenth edition of the annual Southern Hemisphere rugby union competition, involving Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
South Africa are the defending champions having won the title for the first time since 2019 after a 48-7 win over Argentina.
Other events to look out for include the Impala Floodlit, November Tests, Elgon Cup, URC, and English premiership among others.
