The first recorded game in Kenya took place in 1909, when a team composed of predominantly British "Officials" took on mainly Afrikaaner "Settlers" in Mombasa.

Not only had the white population failed to promote the game properly amongst the black African and Asian population in Kenya, but when employment restrictions were introduced by the newly independent Kenyan state, they ensured that a number of the white British and South Africans who had been the mainstay of the game previously left the country.

[4] Kenya is a founder member of the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR), which was launched officially in January 1986, in Tunis.

Rugby officials from Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Madagascar also attended.

[8] Kenya plays host to the annual Bamburi Rugby Super Series which teams from other East African countries also attend.

Nicknamed The Tuskers, a name which was taken from a local beer, the first overseas touring East Africa XV played in the Copperbelt of what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, in September 1954 when they won six out of seven matches.

This is evident in their results in the African Rugby Cup as Kenya have been the runners-up of the past four years in a row losing to Namibia.

The popularity of Kenyan rugby has greatly increased over the last few years and the country now has over 40 clubs, 40,000 players, of whom nearly 30,000 are teenagers and 3000 are women.

A major part of competition at the junior level is the St Mary's Blackrock Festival which has been used to scout for Kenya's top players for the last 26 years.

[15] In addition there is the National Sevens Circuit and other competitions such as the Great Rift 10-A-Side rugby tournament which many clubs take part in.

With a franchised system, players from different clubs join producing a higher quality of rugby.