Rugby, popularly referred as ‘rudge’ in Kenya is played in three different versions namely sevens aside, ten aside and fifteen aside. This basically reflects the number of Rugby players playing on against each other. The Sevens rugby game in Kenya, however, overshadows the full version of 15 players per team because of the shorter type’s less infrastructure to develop and sustain.
Rugby game in Kenya has made tremendous strides in development and has brought so much pride to Kenya with regard to the results obtained. The good results that have come out are due to the creation and development of a well-organized rugby league and rugby cup tournaments in Kenya that feature the top rugby clubs in Kenya.
Kenya Rugby Union is the governing body of Rugby Union in Kenya. Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) is in charge of running the Kenyan Rugby national teams in addition to organizing various rugby competitions in Kenya among Kenyan Rugby clubs and schools. The major rugby competitions among Kenya Rugby clubs are : the Rugby Elgon Cup, Enterprise and Mwamba Rugby Cup, Eric Shirley Shield, Great Rift 10-Aside, Kenya Rugby Cup, Mombasa International Sevens, National Sevens Circuit, Nationwide League, Rugby Super Series and the annual Safaricom Sevens. Kenya Rugby clubs are well developed and managed leading to success in the rugby game.
Kenyan Rugby Football Clubs are a mix of pre-colonial and newly established rugby clubs and they been responsible for development of very quality rugby players in Kenya for the national rugby teams. The Kenyan Rugyby clubs have also been performing quite well in comparison to the countries neighboring Kenya. The rugby clubs in Kenya include; Nondescripts rugby club, Kenya Harlequins rugby club, Mwamba rugby club, Impala rugby club, Homeboyz rugby club, Strathmore Leos rugby club, KCB rugby club, Mean Machine rugby club in Kenya, Black Blad rugby club, Nakuru rugby club, Eldoret rugby club, Mombasa rugby club and Kisumu RFC rugby club.
The rugby schools tournaments in Kenya are categorized in first, second and third tiers i.e. Prescott, Damu Pevu and Damu Changa cups in Kenya. The participants of the rugyby schools tournaments in Kenya are mostly drawn from Nairobi and its environs. The rugby games in Kenya are played in the second term of the Kenyan school calendar. Notable winners of the Prescott cup in Kenya include St Mary’s High school (Saints) in Kenya, Rift Valley Academy (RVA) in Kenya, Lenana School (Changez) in Kenya, Mangu High school in Kenya, Nairobi school (Patch) in Kenya and Alliance high school (Bush) in Kenya.
Among the many success stories of KRU in Kenya, is the Kenya 15s team win over Zimbabwe in the 2013 Africa cup final and the various successes of the Kenya national sevens team including being one of 12 `core teams` in the IRB Sevens World Series, reaching Semi-finals of the 2009 and 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens among others.
The Kenya Rugby Union is located in the RFUEA Ground in Nairobi. One can get to KRFUEA grounds along Ngong road by boarding a KBS or a City hoppa bus number 4 (to Riruta Satellite in Nairobi), city hoppa bus 5 (to Jamhuri Estate in Nairobi) or matatu 24 ( to Karen) from Kencom bus stage in the city centre of Nairobi. The bus fare to Kenya Rugby Union Offices in Nairobi is Kshs 40 or Kshs 50 depending on the time.
More details: http://www.kenyarfu.com/, http://www.mwambarugby.com/, http://kcbrfc.blogspot.com/, http://www.nakururugby.com/,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_in_Kenya