Kenya national rugby union team

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Kenya
Kenya.png
Union Kenya Rugby Football Union
Ground(s) RFUEA Ground, Nairobi
Coach(es) Michael Otieno
Team kit
Change kit
First international
Kenya  Kenya won  Tanganyika[1][a]
(1954)
Largest win
Kenya  96 - 3  Nigeria
(1987-08-10)
Largest defeat
Kenya  12 - 84  Namibia
(2006-05-27)
Official website
www.kenyarfu.com

The Kenya national rugby union team is the Kenyan national team in Rugby. it is controlled by the Kenya Rugby Football Union.

The team participates Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) tournaments, but has never qualified for the Rugby World Cup.

A Kenya representative rugby team first played against the touring Combined South African Universities in 1929, starting a long tradition of Kenya national teams playing touring universities (mostly South African), clubs and military units (mostly Royal Naval vessels). Kenya played its first international in 1954, beating Tanganyika although the score of the game is not known. This fixture was repeated in 1955 and 1956 and then in 1958 Kenya played Uganda. These two countries were the major source of opposition for the side during the ensuing decades with matches being played frequently but irregularly as political problems in the region often interfered with fixtures. Zambia and Zimbabwe also provided regular opposition from the mid-1970s until the late 1980s when the formation of the CAR and the expansion of the World Cup provided opportunities to play competitively against many other nations. Its biggest win is against Nigeria, 96-3 on 10 August 1987 and worst defeat against Namibia 12-84 on 27 May 2006.

The Kenyan sevens team takes part in international Rugby sevens competitions and has been more successful than their XV counterpart. Their breakthrough season was 2008–09, in which they made the semifinals of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens and advanced to one final and two semifinals in that year's IRB Sevens World Series. Before that, perhaps their most successful moment in sevens was beating rugby giant Australia in the London Sevens 2006, going on to reach the Final of the Plate competition. In the 2007 rugby sevens in New Zealand, Kenya went on to draw 2nd in their pot, beating such rugby giants as Argentina and Tonga, before being narrowly defeated in the quarter-finals by eventual runners-up Fiji.

Kenya compete annually against Uganda in the Elgon Cup.

During the 2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification, Kenya was placed in pool c, and came away with a 76-8 win over Cameroon and a loss to Tunisia which means they did not qualify for the semi finals.

The home ground of Kenya national rugby union team is the RFUEA Ground in Nairobi.

Contents

[edit] International Results

Kenya scores a try against Tonga
Against Played Won Lost Drawn For Against  % Won
 Arabian Gulf
2
2
0
0
61
41
100
 Botswana
1
1
0
0
80
9
100
 Cameroon
4
4
0
0
156
55
100
 Madagascar
3
0
2
1
60
73
0
 Morocco
3
1
2
0
37
74
33.33
 Namibia
5
1
4
0
68
267
20
 Nigeria
1
1
0
0
96
3
100
 Senegal
1
1
0
0
22
7
100
 Tunisia
5
2
3
0
94
163
40
 Uganda
16
11
5
0
372
274
68.75
 Zambia
1
1
0
0
33
10
100
 Zimbabwe
10
3
7
0
154
276
30
Total 52 28 23 1 1233 1252 53.85

[edit] 2010 Victoria cup squad

The Victoria Cup is the newest competition in African rugby; the 2010 season was the first year it has been held. Three teams, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe compete for this Cup in a format similar to that of the Tri Nations. Just as the Bledisloe Cup (Australia and New Zealand), Freedom Cup (New Zealand and South Africa) and Mandela Challenge Plate (Australia and South Africa) have been subsumed into the Tri Nations and as the Calcutta Cup (England and Scotland) is now part of the Six Nations, so the pre-existing Elgon Cup between Kenya and Uganda will from now on be played for within this new competition.

[edit] Notable players

  • African Leopards Representatives
    • Innocent Simiyu (versus South African Students 2005 and British Army Senior XV 2006)
    • Dan Weku (versus British Army Senior2006 XV and French Under 20 2007)
    • Derrick Wamalwa (versus French Under 20 2007)

[edit] Notes

a. ^ The first match for both Kenya and Tanzania (Tanganyika at the time) took place in 1954 at Arusha. It was held shortly before the First Tuskers Copperbelt tour later that year and served as a selection trial for the tour. This match was won by Kenya though the exact score is not known. The next year the fixture was repeated, again at Arusha, Tanganyika winning by 11 points to 3. The third match occurred a year later in 1956, again at Arusha; Kenya winning this encounter 0-13.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Campbell, M; Cohen, E.J. (1960). Rugby Football in East Africa 1909-1959. Rugby Football Union of East Africa. 
  1. ^ Campbell (1960) pp41

[edit] External links

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