Why Uganda’s Lady Cranes must win the 2026 Rugby Africa Women’s 7s

Uganda’s Lady Cranes are set to return to the Rugby Africa Women’s 7s with two clear goals in mind.

The first and main goal for the Lady Cranes is to win the continental showpiece, a title that has been dominated by South Africa, with only Tunisia and Kenya winning a title each.

Unfortunately for Uganda’s Lady Cranes, they have come close but lost four finals in 2006, 2007, 2008, and the most recent silver came against archrivals, Kenya Lionesses, in 2018.

The Cranes therefore have a huge but surmountable challenge ahead of them as they chase their maiden African title.

The next target for the Lady Cranes is to qualify for the HSBC Division III to be held on January 17-18 at the SVNS Stadium in Dubai. To qualify, Uganda only needs to be the best-ranked side outside of South Africa and Kenya, who are already in HSBC Division II.

That notwithstanding, the Lady Cranes still need to aim for the highest accolade, as other nations like Tunisia and Madagascar are eyeing the same coveted qualification spot.

While walking away as the overall winners at the Rugby Africa Women’s 7s would be the top priority, qualifying for HSBC Division III is the low-hanging fruit.

Hitting both targets is a very realistic possibility and would propel Uganda as a whole back to the international Rugby Sevens scene.

Breaking the Lioness curse

The Kenya Lionesses have seemed a hill too steep for the Lady Cranes to climb at the Rugby Africa Women’s 7s. The last time Uganda reached the final in 2018, they lost to Kenya.

Uganda then registered a group stage win against Kenya at the 2022 edition, but have since lost to their noisy neighbours in all subsequent continental tournaments. For 3 years in a row since 2023, Kenya has defeated Uganda at the semifinal stage of the tournament.

In 2023, Uganda lost 27-00, and the following year the Lady Cranes lost 19-00. The most recent result was a rather painful 17-10 loss for Uganda that came with a converted try scored by Kenya after the full-time hooter had been sounded.

Although Uganda has consistently closed the gap on the continental stage, there have been signs of regression, as evidenced by their 2025 and 2026 Safari 7s losses to Kenya.

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