Uganda defeated Tunisia 33-0 in the final of the 2026 Rugby Africa Women's Sevens Cup at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi on Sunday, claiming the continental title for the first time and securing qualification for World Rugby HSBC SVNS 3.
Winger Lydia Namabiro scored a hat-trick in the final, with Racheal Mufuwa and Gertrude Kateesa also crossing as Uganda's powerful forward pack dominated throughout the tournament. The Lady Cranes had earlier edged Kenya 19-14 in a tense semifinal before rediscovering their dominant form against Tunisia.
For Cecil Afrika's South Africa Women's 'A' side, the tournament was a tale of squandered leads and an inability to close out matches. They finished sixth after losing 12-17 to Zambia in the fifth-place final — the second time Zambia had beaten them across the weekend.
The South Africans opened Saturday's pool phase impressively, putting 57 unanswered points past Rwanda and beating Zimbabwe 26-10. However, they surrendered a 14-0 lead against Zambia in their final pool match, conceding a late try to lose 14-19. Sunday followed a similar script: a slow start against Uganda in the quarterfinals led to a 17-24 defeat, despite a second-half comeback. A dominant 48-0 win over Mauritius in the fifth-place semifinal offered little consolation ahead of the rematch with Zambia, where South Africa led 12-0 and Zambia had a player red-carded, only to again fail to close out the game.
Hayley Hardneck finished as South Africa's leading scorer with 41 points from three tries and 13 conversions. Boland clubmate Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga crossed six times, while captain Vianca Boer scored five tries.