Kenya Morans failed in their bid to reclaim the Rugby Africa Sevens title at the weekend after being ejected by Madagascar 14-10 in the semi final during the third Mauritius Sevens that ended at the Labourdonnais Sports Club, Mauritius on June 22, 2025.

Despite sending a strong squad captained by George Ooro, the current national team captain, Shujaa, Moran failed to replicate the form that saw them upset South Africa’s Blitzboks in 2023 to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France. 

After a successful day one in which Moran dropped only five points to neighbors Uganda, the team coached by Louis Kisia, Shujaa’s assistant coach had a promising start by blanking Nigeria 43-12 in the cup quarter finals before falling to Madagascar in the semis and Zimbabwe 19-21 to slip to the fourth position, two better than last year.

Only Hardware

The only hardware in Moran’s camp was won by 18-year old John Siketi who was named as the most promising rookie of the two-day event that was won by the South Africa development team who finished their unbeaten run with a 28-12 win over Madagascar.

Uganda, the defending champions bowed out at the cup quarterfinal losing 0-26 to South Africa but bounced back to turn the tables on Ghana 47-7, a team they had lost to on the opening day. Tolbert Onyangoo, the Uganda Sevens coach had admitted it was going to be a tough outing after the Uganda Rugby Union decided to pull out some of regular 7s players to the 15’s team who are preparing for the Rugby Africa 15’s Cup. 

Uganda Finished Fifth

In Mauritius, Uganda finished fifth behind Kenya and have set their eyes on doing better at the next tournament, Safari Sevens to be played in Nairobi in October. Onyango observed that the tournament continued to grow and is now very competitive. “We were outmuscled by South Africa and run rugged by Kenya in the dying minutes,” the coach recalled.

On a positive note, Onyango who has coached Uganda Sevens for slightly over 10 years urged Rugby Africa to ensure there was an Africa Circuit after “World Rugby pulled the rug from under the feet of developing nations.” This was in reference to the governing body’s shock announcement of a reduction of teams in the World Rugby Sevens World Series from 12 to eight in May. 

Perhaps, the form team in the past three years are Madagascar who are unpredictable and dangerous in broken play. “For an inexperienced team, the boys pulled their weight,” the coach acknowledged.

Mauritius Sevens

June 21-22, 2025

Pools

Pool A: Uganda, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Ghana

Pool B: South Africa, Burkina Faso, Zambia

Pool C: Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Tunisia.

Results

Zimbabwe 31 Tunisia 17, Madagascar 39 Mauritius 7, Burkina Faso 12 Zambia 21, South Africa 17 Nigeria 5, Kenya 36 Ivory Coast 0, Uganda 7 Ghana 17, Zimbabwe 42 Mauritius 7, Madagascar 31 Tunisia 7, Burkina Faso 12 Nigeria 29, South Africa 33 Zambia 14, Kenya 33 Ghana 0, Uganda 43 Ivory Coast 0, Madagascar 7 Zimbabwe 21, Zambia 14 Nigeria 7, South Africa 33 Burkina Faso 0, Ivory Coast 0 Ghana 29, Uganda 5 Kenya 12, Tunisia 19 Mauritius 17.

Day 2 results

Quarter finals: South Africa 26 Uganda 0, Zimbabwe 36 Ghana 0, Zambia 12 Madagascar 31, Kenya 43 Nigeria 12; Semis: South Africa 19 Zimbabwe 12, Kenya 10 Madagascar 14; Play-off: Zimbabwe 21 Kenya 19; Final: South Africa 28 Madagascar 12.

Playoffs

Uganda 47 Ghana 7, Zambia 26 Nigeria 22; Fifth place final: Uganda 24 Zambia 5,

Seventh place final: Ghana 12 Nigeria 19.

Tunisia 29 Ivory Coast 22, Burkina Faso 24 Mauritius 12; Tunisia 10 Burkina Faso 12

Mauritius 24 Ivory Coast 0. Ranking: 1. South Africa, 2. Madagascar, 3. Zimbabwe, 4. Kenya, 5. Uganda, 6. Zambia, 7. Nigeria, 8. Ghana, 9. Burkina Faso, 10. Tunisia, 11. Mauritius, 12. Ivory Coast.