The Kenya men's fifteens rugby team, Simbas, have been lined up to play against the best of South Africa's domestic league players in a friendly fixture at the Loftus Versfield Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday 6 November 2021.
In a statement jointly released by South African Rugby Union (SARU) and Kenya Rugby Union (KRU), Simbas will battle out with the select side from the African most watched rugby league.
"Sevens fans favourites Kenya will show off their growing ambition in the XV-a-side game after being confirmed as the inaugural opponents in next month’s Champions Match – to face the best of South African domestic rugby," read part of the statement.
"The East African nation – ever-popular at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens – will meet the Carling Champion Team, consisting of players selected by fans from any of the seven Carling Currie Cup Premier Division teams."
The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played annually, featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces.
"The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) is greatly honoured by the invitation by SARU to participate in the Carling Champions Cup in Pretoria,” said Oduor Gangla, chairman of the Kenya Rugby Union.
“This will be an excellent opportunity for the Simbas to play against top-notch professional opponents even as we prepare for the international test matches coming up. The experience of such matches is truly priceless as we prepare for the Rugby World Cup qualifiers next year.
“We are very grateful to Carling and SARU for granting us this unique invitation and look forward to an exciting start to our international window matches," concluded Gangla.
“We’re delighted that our friends from Kenya have accepted the invitation,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby.
“The pandemic and our inclusion in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship presented a few challenges and it has been a Champion effort all round to arrive at this day. It’s great to have a fellow African rugby nation marking the inauguration of an event that we hope to see grow as the calendar settles down and fans return in due course.”