In the quarterfinal of the Rugby Africa Women’s 7s 2025, the Lady Cranes came up against Tunisia, the 2012 champions, and the Ugandans came out on top.
Peace Lekuru owned the first half of that game, creating a try scoring opportunity for Lydia Namabiro, assisting Samiya Ayikoru and then scoring a try of her own.
Yvonne Najjuma picked up from where Lekuru left, putting in the big carries and scoring a try too.
That 31-12 Uganda quarterfinal win wasn’t spotless, as cracks started to show in the Lady Cranes’ structure. The Cranes were initially putting all 7 players in the defense line and this created room for the Tunisians to break the line and score twice.
Against the Kenya Lionesses, Charles Onen opted to play with Samiya Ayikoru as the sweeper and this discouraged the Kenyans from putting in kicks behind.
While the sweeper question was answered for most of the game, it is the defense that remained wanting. Kenya’s Freshiar Oduor scored twice in the first half, with the second try coming just before the break after intercepting a Uganda ball in the Kenya half.
In the second half, the Lady Cranes fought back through a Lekuru try to tie the game at 10-10. More pressure from the Ugandans yielded nothing, while the Kenyans resorted to their kicking game. It is one of those kicks behind the Uganda defense line that started a spell of unfortunate events for the Lady Cranes.
A retreating Janat Nandudu gathered a kick from the Lionesses, and this seemed like a counterattack opportunity. A Namabiro offload failed Ayikoru to gather ended in a knock on, and when Nandudu attempted to go for the turnover, she was penalized, giving Kenya the advantage.
The Kenyans made no mistake in taking full advantage to score a center post try after the hooter, which was converted to end the game 17-10 for the hosts.
The Lady Cranes now face Madagascar in the bronze medal match for the second consecutive year, hoping to retain their third-place finish, at the very least.