Kenyan ref Liyosi to officiate at Victoria Falls Sevens

Kenyan referee Noreen Liyosi is set to officiate at the Victoria Falls Sevens where the national team Shujaa will be participating in Zimbabwe.

Liyosi, who turned out for the Top Fry Nakuru Ladies team, will officiate her first international game in what will mark yet another milestone for the star for the Alma Mater of Chwele Girls High School.

The 23-year-old is a common face within Kenyan rugby circles where she is one of three acting female referees for the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU).

The teacher by profession at the Nakuru’s New Life Academy has previously overseen fixtures in the KRU Championship, Eric Shirley Shield, Nationwide leagues and also presided over Division One of Kenya’s National Sevens Circuit.

Her beauty and elegance is usually met with blank stares at her workplace more so by burly rugby players, a majority of whom are male and cannot grasp how a stunning young woman with a high flying teaching profession would opt to officiate in a male-dominated rugby game.

Just before her promotion Liyosi was set to officiate the reserve Eric Shirley Shield final on Saturday between KCB II and Resolution Impala Saracens II which will be played at 12.00pm at the United States International University.

The Will Webster-coached side is pooled in a favourable Group B alongside hosts Zimbabwe, Zambia B, False Bay and Lesotho in the two-day invitational tournament.

They will open their campaign with a match against False Bay at 11.06am EAT on Saturday before playing Zambia B at 2.24pm, then follow it up with Lesotho at 4.36pm and finalise it with Zimbabwe at 6.14pm with their last game of the day.

The tournament will serve as a timely warm up for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and the Sevens World Cup for the national team.

Pool A: Uganda, Zambia A, Goshawks, Zambezi Steelers, Spartans

Pool B: Zimbabwe, Kenya Shujaa, False Bay, Lesotho, Zambia B