Lionesses and Simbas ready to hunt at Rugby Africa Cup

National rugby 15s sides Kenya Lionesses and their male counterparts Simbas are ready to dance with the best at the upcoming Rugby Africa Cup after naming their squads for their respective duties set for June.

The highly-charged and physical game required proper preparations, and the Kenya Rugby Union, after narrowly missing out on a World Cup berth in 2023, believes early preparations will give the teams the required lift to win their encounters.

For Lionesses, three debutants headline the selection ahead of Rugby Africa Women’s Cup slated for June 1 in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Ivonee Katundu, Dorris Kimani and Yvette Oketch, who will be looking to prove themselves after being included in the team that comprises the star fly-half Grace Adhiambo Okulu.

Okulu, who was instrumental during Lionesses’ Sevens 2025 World Challenger Series championship run, will be joined by Naomi Amuguni, Sheila Chajira, Christabel Lindo, Faith Livoi, Moreen Muritu, Stella Wafula and Sinaida Mokaya, who all represented Kenya in the shorter version of the game.

The Lionesses are keen to bounce back from a disappointing campaign in last year’s tournament, where they managed just one win against Cameroon and suffered defeats to hosts Madagascar and defending champions South Africa.

This year, they will face the same teams: Madagascar and South Africa, alongside regional rivals Uganda, in a round-robin format. The team will kick off their campaign against hosts Madagascar on June 7.

Meanwhile, Simbas tactician Jerome Paarwater believes they have the best team to take Kenya forward ahead of their South Africa one-month high-performance training.

Kenya will use the tour to prepare for the Rugby Africa Cup come 2027 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers in Uganda.

With two debutants in the team, the South African team is confident after his side saw off United Arab Emirates rugby side 54-24 last weekend.

“The training match offered us an opportunity to see the work that we’ve done over the last one week in Kakamega come to life, especially for the players who haven’t been in the Simbas set up for the last two years.

“That is why we played the first two groups made up of majorly these players, we were glad to see a number of them raise their hands with their performances,” he said.

The 33-man squad is a blend of seasoned Simbas players led by captain George Nyambua, as well as exciting new talents in Samuel Ovwamu and Collins Indeche.

Kenya Sevens stars Kevin Wekesa, John Okoth, Samuel Asati and Bethwel Anami return to the squad having featured in the 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifiers in France .

“It was important for us to see all 47 players who have been in camp play in a game situation, which is not always possible in a training set up,” said Paarwater.