NAIROBI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan women's rugby team, the Lionesses, will face Colombia in Nairobi on April 18 for a place in the Rugby World Cup 2021.
Colombia edged Brazil 23-19 at home over the weekend to set up a mouth-watering clash against Kenya.
The winner heads of the repechage in June will meet other regional qualifiers at a venue to be identified by World Rugby.
Australia and New Zealand have already secured qualification for Rugby World Cup 2021 as a result of finishing in the top seven placed teams at Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland.
Rugby World Cup 2021 will be hosted in New Zealand. Fiji and South Africa are the only regional qualifiers to make the cut for the New Zealand finals next year. Other qualifying teams based on ranking are England, USA, France, Canada and Wales.
Lionesses head coach Felix Oloo said playing against Colombia will mark their biggest match and hopes his charges will take the cue and deliver the results to see Kenya progress in their quest for a place at the World Cup.
"It's a huge game for Kenya with high stakes. It's a one-off game which means we cannot afford to lose the opportunity to progress to the next stage," Oloo said on Wednesday in Nairobi.
Last August, Kenya lost 39-0 to South Africans in the finals to finish as runners-up with Uganda and Madagascar, the other teams that took part in the tournament.
Kenya will now contest a play-off against Colombia, the winner of the South American qualifier, with the victor heading to the global repechage that will determine the final qualifier.
Apart from qualification to the repechage, the match against Colombia will also offer ranking points for both teams with the Lionesses ranked 25th and the South Americans placed 29th in the world.
"Colombia is a very physical side and we must improve our strength and conditioning. We need to bolster the team because their next opponents want to dominate the set pieces and the collisions. Kenya must be wary of that threat," Oloo said.
However, with the Kenyan government slapping a blanket ban on all international sports competition owing to the rise in the spread of the coronavirus, the match may be postponed.
World Rugby has agreed to have the games between Scotland and France and the second one between Ireland and Italy has been postponed due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
