National women’s rugby 15s team, the Kenya Lionesses, are set to face South Africa’s Springboks women in today’s Test match scheduled to take place at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport in Cape Town.

Lionesses are preparing for a do-or-die repechage qualifying match against Colombia at Nyayo National Stadium on August 25 in their bid to qualify for the first time to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, rescheduled for October 8 to November 12, 2022, in New Zealand.

Speaking to People Sport, Lionesses head coach Felix ‘Ade’ Oloo confirmed that they arrived safely in Cape Town on Tuesday, and are now gearing up for the two-test series, starting with today’s encounter and then meet again on Monday next week as they seek to use the two friendlies to do final touches before facing Colombia.

“Colombia’s match is truly a do-or-die encounter for us and I believe the team will deliver.

So, the test matches against South Africa are significant in our preparations, because we want to use them to expose new and young players at the highest level, and high pressured games.

So, the whole playing unit is okay and I’ve no injury concerns as of now. The team is gelling up well as we ultimately prepare for the Colombia game,” coach Felix ‘Ade’ Oloo told People Sport.

Northern Suburbs’ Joy Kendagor will captain the team, and she’s hopeful that playing South Africa in the scheduled friendlies, will offer them a good platform to gauge themselves and see where they are and what they need to work on before taking on Colombia’s women’s rugby 15s team, the Las Tucanes.

“Women Boks are currently the best women’s 15s rugby team in Africa and we need to play the best to improve ourselves.

There is, therefore, no better way to prepare for the Colombia game than playing South Africa so that we know exactly what we need to do to produce results,” Kendagor told Kenya Rugby Union ahead of leaving for South Africa.

Lionesses failed to seal a direct ticket to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the premier international competition in rugby union for women, after finishing second behind South Africa in the 2019 Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, thus forced to play a repechage qualifier against Colombia who also missed to qualify directly from their South American region but managed to defeat Brazil 23-19 in their continental playoff fixture played on March 7, 2020, to book a date with the Lionesses here in Nairobi at Nyayo National Stadium on August 25.