Safari 7s: Rescheduled fixtures to continue on Saturday
By Joel Masibo, October 11, 2025The 2025 Safari Sevens edition’s order of play has been rescheduled to start earlier on day two as a result of a technical hitch experienced on the opening day, Friday, October 10, 2025, at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Tournament organisers, the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU), had previously announced that the matches would run until 8:00 pm, but unfortunately, this did not take place.
Following the unfolding, the last three matches that were not played will kick off the tournament on Saturday morning, October 11, 2025, in the following order:
8:54 am – Uganda vs Nyati
9:19 am – French Renegades vs UK Select
9:38 am – Kenya Shujaa vs Walukuba Rugby.
The schedule will proceed with the Ladies’ category from 10:00 am, based on the schedule attached below. In the first round of matches, defending champions Costa Blanca Barbarians kicked off the tournament with a 29-00 victory over Mwamba.
Shogun Ladies saw off the Kenya Cubs 32-05 before Uganda Cranes Ladies won 12-10 against Belgium. Kenya Lionesses wrapped up the ladies’ category against Tunisia, and they secured a 34–07.
The Morans beat Reunion 24-00 in the first match of the men’s category before Zimbabwe upset Apache with a 33-17 win. This is the 27th edition of the Safari Sevens, and it has brought teams from all over the world, and it promises to bring in fans to enjoy the best of rugby on this side of East Africa.
Kenya Lionesses upbeat
Meanwhile, the Kenya national sevens women’s rugby team, the Lionesses, under acting head coach Simon Odongo, is optimistic the Kenyan ladies will post good results at this year’s tournament.
Speaking on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, ahead of the tournament, Odongo revealed that the team is showing tremendous confidence as it aims to perform well on home soil this coming weekend.
”The team has assembled well; we called up 37 players, and right now we have trimmed the squad to 24 who are currently in the two teams. We have 12 rookies; nine have joined the Cubs, while 3 have joined the Lionesses, just to give everyone a chance to compete for a slot,” Odongo said.
The tactician added that the team will be using the Safari 7s to prepare for upcoming competitions.
”We aim to use Safari 7s and the Africa Cup to build the depth for the events that we attended previously. We are trying to raise a team of 22 players. Going into the event, the ladies look sharp; both teams, the 24 that we have selected, look sharper than the other ladies. We aim to try and win the trophy despite missing out on key figures,’ he added.