Kenya Lionesses will have to qualify through the repechage after losing 12-7 to South Africa in the Africa Sevens/Olympic qualifiers final held in Monastir, Tunisia on Sunday.

The repechage will be held in Monaco in June next year pitting teams from the rest of the regions who missed out on direct qualification.

It was heartbreak for Dennis Mwanja's charges, who gave a good account of themselves in a tense final.

The South Africans started brilliantly, piling pressure on the Lionesses, who could not get out of their own half.

Lionesses' game was characterised by poor decision-making and ball handling and they paid for it as the South Africans scored on the stroke of halftime through skipper Nadine Roos touched down for an unconverted try to lead 5-0 at the interval.

On resumption, the Lionesses came out firing on all cylinders, pinning the South Africans in their 22 and eventually, their efforts bore fruit when Sharon Auma skipped past three opponents to score with Grace Odhiambo converting for a 7-5 lead.

The two-time African champions regrouped and Maria Tshiremba outpaced the Kenyan defence to score at the corner with Roos converting for a 12-7 lead.

The Lionesses had one last opportunity when Auma tried to break away but was tackled and Kenya conceded the penalty to end their hopes of automatic qualification for the Olympics in France.

A good number of the Lionesses outfit will now join the 15s team at the WXV 3 tournament in Dubai where Kenya lost their opening match 32-0 to Spain on Saturday.

Lionesses' skipper Grace Adhiambo said the girls gave their best shot but lamented the poor officiating at the last minute.

"You saw the call the referee gave at the end when we had an opportunity to create something. But credit to the girls, who played well. We live to fight at the repechage next year," said Adhiambo. 

The Lionesses had edged Uganda 27-0 in the semifinals with Janet Okello scoring a hattrick of tries while South Africa thrashed Zambia 31-0 in the first semifinal.

In the group stage, the Lionesses had beaten Zambia 27-0, Ghana 41-0 and Madagascar 20-17 to top Pool 'B'.