Kenya Lionesses rise in latest World Rugby rankings

Kenya Lionesses and China players in action during their Group D match of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series at Estadio Santa Laura, Chile on August 12 2022. [World Rugby]

The national women's rugby 15s team Lionesses are the biggest movers in the latest World Rugby women's rankings released on Thursday.

This is following an impressive outing at the 2022 Rugby Africa Women's Cup played in Uganda a week ago.

The Dennis Mwanja coached side defeated hosts Uganda 23-3 in Kampala on November 2 to win the Eastern Region Rugby Africa Women's tournament.

This result sees them not only qualify to the next stage of the Rugby Africa Women's Cup but moves them two places up the global rankings from 27th to 25th, overtaking Madagascar and Colombia in the process.

South Africa remains the highest ranked African team at 13th globally while England lead with New Zealand second.

The top spot finish means that the Lionesses were promoted to Pool A which will act as the first stage qualifiers of the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.

After their victory in Uganda, Kenya will now join Group A that has South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe as they continue with their dream of making it to their maiden World Cup.

Uganda's loss to Kenya saw them become the biggest fallers in the rankings as they plummeted four places to land at 34th globally.

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