The year 2024 will go down as one of the better ones for Kenya Rugby in recent history, after a tough run in the last six or so years. From Shujaa getting back to the World Series, playing at the Paris Olympics, Chipu lifting the Barthes Trophy. New, or rather, returning sponsors to the sport…let’s look at what stood out in the last 365 days!
The Highs
Shujaa Back To The World Series
Shujaa started the year by laying down the gauntlet for the rest of the teams in the Challenger series in January, by lifting the cup title in the first event on the calendar in Dubai, off a 12-5 win over Chile. The Sevens Lionesses would unluckily fall in the Cup final 19-5 to China in the same tournament.
Shujaa would go on to reclaim their slot at the World Series, after 378 days in the cold, with a 33-15 result over Germany. At this point, I suggest you read this, Shujaa Is Back!
Chipu Win Barthes Cup
In February, KRU announced a new XVs technical bench with Simon Jawichre heading the Chipu program, two months later against all odds, Jawiz led the Chipu class of 2024 to the first Barthes title outside of our borders, courtesy of a 28-13 result over hosts Zimbabwe, delivering a set piece masterclass at that.
With that result, Chipu booked their ticket to the 2024 World Rugby U20 Trophy, becoming only the third side in Kenyan history to play at that level. More on that a bit later…Watch This
Return of the Super Series
After ten years of the Rugby Super Series being a placeholder in the KRU calendar, we finally saw the return of the region’s premier franchise rugby tournament.
Though not in the most ideal of situations, the Rugby Super Series kicked off on 4th May with new franchises, away from the geographical considerations we had been used to before. Impala and Homeboyz for example were bundled together with Menengai Oilers, Nakuru, Kabarak University and University of Eldoret in the Nakuru-based Menengai Cheetahs.
The Catholic Monks were thrown into the Kakamega-based Kabras Sugar Buffaloes alongside Kabras Sugar, Kisumu, Masinde Muliro, and Western Bulls, as the SC Pirates played in the KCB Lions Franchise with KCB, Blak Blad, Mwamba, JKUAT Cougars, and USIU Maritals. As neighbours, Mombasa played for the Faiba Mobile Rhinos, alongside Kenya Harlequin, Nondescripts, Strathmore Leos, Daystar Falcons and Mean Machine.
Nonetheless, on May 4th 2024, the RSS returned at a muddy RFUEA grounds, with 18-5 and 29-7 wins for the Cheetahs and Lions over the Buffaloes and Rhinos respectively. The Cheetahs would go on to win the overall title, with an 18-10 triumph over the Lions at the same RFUEA grounds, this time in proper franchise kit.
Most notably, the Super Series brought to the forefront three new coaches, Oliver Mang’eni for the Lions, Lawi Buyachi for the title-winning Cheetahs, and Max Adaka for the Buffaloes (All who played for the Simbas together). The tournament however was made possible because of the support of these four companies which deserve our applause, Kabras Sugar, Menengai Oilers, Faiba Mobile and KCB Bank Kenya.
Lionesses Beat Madagascar
Bouncing back from the disappointment of not playing in the WXV3 in 2024, the XV Lionesses hosted the Malagasy women’s side at the RFUEA in September, in the first standalone Women’s XVs test in history.
While Madagascar used this test as a warm-up for their WXV3 campaign, the Lionesses had other ideas in mind, as they put their opponents to the sword on a Friday evening to a record-setting 63-19 result. It would be the only action for the XVs Lionesses in 2024.
The 7s Lionesses would finish second at the Rugby Africa 7s, narrowly losing to South Africa 19-10, to qualify for next year’s Challenger series.
Safari Sevens New Location
On 11th October the Safari Sevens was hosted for the first time outside Nairobi as the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos hosted Africa’s Premier Sevens tournament with a total of ten men’s and five women’s side competing over three days.
While the venue announcement could have come a bit earlier, the tournament went on to better the attendance numbers from 2023 at the RFUEA. It also opened up the possibility of hosting the Safari Sevens outside Nairobi, like it was done with the Simbas test matches, if I were to advice the Union, I’d ask them to keep it at Machakos for at least another year, and announce that with the dates.
The Robin Cahill Trophy was eventually lifted by Shujaa and the Costablanca Barbarians in the men’s and wome’s categories, off 12-0 and 24-10 results over Shogun Rugby and Kenya Lionesses 7s, respectively. But perhaps the biggest impact the tournament had was in the schools and age grade categories, where schools from the larger Eastern region got to play and watch their heroes play!
Kabras Go Back-To-Back Unbeaten
On June 8th, Kabras Sugar beat their nemesis KCB 32-20 in the Enterprise Cup final to complete a very rare feat of back-to-back unbeaten XV’s seasons, after blanking the same opponent 29-5 in the Kenya Cup final back in April.
Tang Tang rugby were in a class of their own in the year, in true imperious form, the side scored a total of 703 points and only conceded 92 on their way to that third Kenya Cup title on the trot.
The South Coast Pirates and Impala booked their tickets to the big dance in the 2024/25 season, with Zetech and TUM Marines earning promotion to the Championship. Going in the other direction were the Catholic Monks and Homeboyz from the Kenya Cup, with Mean Machine dropping to the Nationwide league.
Mwamba Complete The 3-Peat
Mwamba Ladies completed the Kenya Cup three-peat, after seeing off the Northern Surburbs 53-0 in the final, completing a first unbeaten season.
It was a ground-breaking season for the ladies with a total of eight teams divided into two pools competing in the Kenya Cup, the likes of Rongo and Shamberere dominating in the western region.
Kenya Harlequin Quench 12-Year Thirst
A 15-5 Nondies win over Kabras, on the last day of the 2024 Sevens circuit at Prinsloo Sevens Cup semi-final, handed the Kenya Harlequin the overall gong for the first time in 12 years.
It was one of the most competitive sevens season in recent times, with one of Kabras, KCB, or Quins with a realistic chance of winning the overall title going into the last leg in Nakuru. Kabras had won the first leg at the Christie 7s, with Quins and KCB lifting the Kakamega and Kabeberi 7s titles. Quins would win the Driftwood title, leaving it all to play for in the last leg, in a race that came down to the wire, and ended most fittingly, with everyone’s fingers crossed and nails chewed off.
Impala lifted the women’s overall title after sweeping the three-leg circuit. The team of the circuit however was the Kabete Stallions, who earned promotion at the opener in Christie 7s, and never looked back, playing in the Prinsloo 7s Cup quarter final.
The Legends
After making a statement in 2023, the Legends by Nondies confirmed their place as that ‘kaguka funky,’ of the sport. Playing in what we can all expect to be an annual ‘Vets Elgon Cup’ beating the Uganda Legends in May, before pulling all stops to stage the biggest rugby festival of 2024, in the return leg, beating their neighbours 24-15 at the RFUEA grounds.
But there was more, later in the year, the legends would host the UK Trittons, as a curtain raiser for the Elgon Cup, before touring Dubai to close the year. We can’t wait for what our guka funkies have in store for 2025!
Return of Sponsors
2024 most notably saw the renewed confidence of sponsors in the sport, from KCB, Faiba, Kabras, and Menengai Oilers supporting the Super Series, to Tusker backing the Safari Sevens, SportPesa walking with the Shujaa through the promotion journey and revamping their partnership at the end of the year.
Mpesa underlined this confidence in the last quarter of the year, announcing a KES 90 Million sponsorship, towards Shujaa and most importantly the 7s Lionesses. This sponsorship specifically will go a long way in bringing more support to the game, especially at club level, this writer hopes!
Rugby Goes Social
Throughout the year, the Union, Clubs, and fans have done a tremendous job in covering the game on social media. Live streaming of games, even from phones, Twitter spaces, Instagram lives, game analysis, name it, we did it!
It was great seeing the content coming out across the sport, every weekend, from stats, images, and video recaps, it can only get better!
The Lows
Just like on a rugby pitch, there are highs and lows, 2024 had its fair share of lows, though as mentioned at the start, not as many as we have gone through in previous years.
Elgon Cup
In what seemed like a last-minute decision, a hurriedly put-together Elgon Cup was announced on the 24th of October, initially to be played on the 2nd and 9th of November.
After some sense prevailed, the dates were pushed to the 9th and 16th… as if it made anything better. In a blatant disregard for player wellness, the dead rubber tournament was played, the Simbas winning both fixtures 19-14 in Nairobi and 21-5 in Uganda.
However, It was a howler from both Unions, especially Kenya, who did not need to play this fixture, which added nothing to our stocks. We need to plan better and play better opposition in 2025, a RWC qualifier year.
It was generally a year to forget for the Simbas, who finished 3rd in the Rugby Africa Cup in July, after losing 38-27 to Namibia and 20-12 to Algeria.
The Lionesses
The Lionesses 7s came within two points of playing in the playoff tournament, and that 8th place finish in Montevideo proved an achilles heel to the team’s promotion hopes.
More importantly, the Lionesses fumbled an opportunity to play in the WXV3, after failing to manage the 7s and XVs players earlier in the year in May, when the XVs were headed to Madagascar for the Rugby Africa Cup between the 4th and 12th of May, and the 7s in Krakow on 18th and 19th May.
Had the two sides collaborated, we would have been at a much better place, especially for the XVs side, but I guess some things are only realised in hindsight. On the bright side, we unearthed some promising talent in Madagascar.
Chipu In Scotland
After the triumph in Harare, Chipu headed to Scotland for the World Rugby U20 trophy, where they faced Uruguay, USA, and the Netherlands in Pool B and Hong Kong in the 7th place playoffs.
After a promising 25-7 loss to Uruguay, the side seemed to capitulate as they fell 51-3 to the Netherlands, but more concerning 30-17 to the USA and 34-14 to Hong Kong. This was a special class, but it was disappointing to see them crumble in the way they did.
Super Series Strike
As the Rugby Super series returned, there were murmurs of player unsatisfaction from the get go, from insurance and allowances, these would all come to the fore on the final day as the Rhinos refused to take the pitch against the Buffaloes in the 3rd place final.
These issues have plagued the Super series for a while now, most famously the ‘Nyumbulets’ in 2013 who were quickly brought together to travel to Uganda, after the main side had raised concerns over their allowances. We hope that this was a wake up call to the organisers and that 2025 will be the start of a smoother series.
Morans At The Africa 7s
Just before the 2024 Paris Olympic games, the Morans played in the Africa 7s in Mauritius on the weekend’s of 29th/30th June and 6th/7th July 2024.
A strong Morans side which featured some seasoned names went on to finish a disappointing 6th overall, after notable losses to Madagascar and Burkina Faso.
Yote tisa, kumi…2024 was a good year for Kenya Rugby, with more to celebrate than to be mad about, here is to an even better 2025, see you all on the other side of the calendar, happy new year!
KWISHA… Nimeruka Nje!!
Brilliant Read. Good things on the way