Kenya Lionesses have been pitted against Uganda and Zambia in Pool B of the Rugby Africa Women's Cup starting in Kampala, Uganda in two weeks' time.
Dennis Mwanja's charges will start their campaign against Zambia on October 29 before a mouthwatering showdown against the hosts Uganda on November 2.
At stake is a qualification to Pool A, where Africa champions South Africa and Namibia await the winner of the pool next year.
Lionesses forward Bernadette Olesia said she is relishing the challenge of facing the two sides.
“We are looking forward to the two matches to test ourselves and our target is to gain promotion to Pool A,” she said.
The rest of the pools will see Tunisia face off with Senegal and Madagascar between October 14-23 in Pool C in Tunis, Tunisia. Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast face off in pool D between November 3 – 13
Team Kenya will be seeking to bounce back from the 2021 edition where they lost both matches to Madagascar 27-15 and 10-0 respectively at Nyayo Stadium.
Olesia said the young team has grown in leaps and bounds since then and they expect them to rise to the occasion.
“Last year, we had not played active rugby due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it showed in our performances. Having played in the league, the Rugby World Cup playoffs to Colombia and the Challenger Seven Series, I believe we are in better shape this time around," she said.
The second-placed team in Pool B will be relegated to Pool C to be replaced by the winner in Pool D and the same applies to Pool D for the event.
Olesia said the team has been training for the past two months at Strathmore University and Olesia said competition for places is quite intense. “It's a quite competitive environment and everyone is fighting for a position."
