Shujaa and Lionesses ready for epic HSBC SVNS World championship and play offs
Only the top four teams from the Los Angeles playoffs will secure places in a newly created second division
Kenya Shujaa and Kenya Lionesses are already in Los Angeles for the all-important HSBC SVNS Play Off competition, which begins tomorrow.
HSBC SVNS 2025 reaches its exciting climax this weekend as the HSBC SVNS World Championship and SVNS Play Off competitions take place in Los Angeles on 3-4 May, 2025. All eyes on this side of the world will be on Kenya’s prospects with Coaches Kevin Wambua and Dennis Mwanja holding their hearts on their sleeves.
Alongside the World Championship event in Los Angeles, the SVNS Play Off competition sees the teams’ ranked ninth to twelfth in HSBC SVNS 2025 competes with the top four ranked teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger. Hosts the USA are in men’s pool A with Kenya, Portugal and Samoa. Pool B sees Uruguay take on Ireland, Germany and Canada. Women’s pool A features Brazil, Spain, Kenya and Colombia, while China, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina are in pool B.
The two-day event kicks off at 10:00 local time (GMT-7) on Saturday with pool matches. The women’s and men’s finals will bring down the curtain on Sunday at 17:05 and 17:41 respectively. Shujaa, who finished ninth this season and missed out on automatic qualification behind Great Britain, have been drawn in Pool A alongside hosts USA, Portugal, and Samoa.
They will open their campaign against Samoa on Saturday at 9:28 PM, face Portugal on Sunday at 12:51 AM, and conclude the pool stage against the USA later that evening at 9:28 PM. Under the new model, only the top four teams from the Los Angeles playoffs will secure places in a newly created second division, with the chance to feature in select main circuit events later in the season.
Star players to watch include Patrick Odongo who is third on series tries list (20) alongside George Ooro, Samuel Asati and Kelvin Wekesa. Two important players of the team who have struggled with injuries are back to fitness but did not make the cut. Coach Wambua explained their exclusions from the traveling party.
““It was indeed a headache but a good headache because of the quality we have within the set up. John Okoth and Chrisant Ojwang who are back from injuries pushed hard for their slots but we decided to stick with the same team that played in the Asian tournaments.”
Speaking on the LA pools, “Focus is on our first game which will give us momentum for the rest of the games. We know Samoa are a quality side but we have done our homework on them and know how we will approach that game.” he concluded.
On their part, Kenya Lionesses who are two time Series champions, arrive in the USA with an appetite to shine and battle in the last leg of the campaign. The Kenya Lionesses, who are the 2025 HSBC Challenger Series champions, have been in camp at the Sadili Oval this past week preparing for the task ahead. The Ladies are in Pool A alongside Brazil, Spain and Colombia.
The team sees two changes from the one that did duty in Poland with the inclusion two Mwamba stars Edith Nariaka who will be making her first appearance this season, and Faith Livoi who returns after missing out on the Poland tour, with Naomi Amuguni not making the tour 13.
Speaking on the team’s selection and preparation this past week, coach Denis Mwanja said, “Camp was great and we got ample time to polish up on our details of the game. The selection of the final traveling 13 players was tough and tricky as all players brought their A-game throughout the camp. We are happy for Edith who has been impressive in training all season, we look forward to her performance in LA.”
