KAMPALA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda Rugby 15s team will face South Africa's Cheetahs in two international friendly games that will be used to prepare for the 2018 Africa Gold Cup.
"We have a partnership with Cheetahs of Free State in South Africa and they will be coming for two games on May 30 and June 2 in Kampala," Ramzy Olinga, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Rugby Union told Xinhua on Saturday.
Olinga said the team now in camp will start with a regional Elgon Cup first leg game against Kenya on May 26.
He said playing Kenya and the two games against Cheetahs will help the technical bench prepare the team better before their opening game in the 2018 Africa Gold Cup away to Namibia on June 16.
Assistant coach Robert Seguya told Xinhua that the team will miss injured skipper Brian Odong, Scot Oluoch, Alex Mubiru and Mathias Ochwo.
"But we are working hard with the players who have been invited before we trim the team ahead of the game with Kenya," said Seguya.
The Rugby Africa Gold Cup which is also a qualifier for the 2019 World Cup will be played by the national teams of Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Zimbabwe and Tunisia.
The competition will be played in a league format with 15 home or away matches from June 16-Aug. 18.
Uganda will host Tunisia (Aug. 4), Morocco (Aug. 11) and Zimbabwe (Aug. 18) in the race for African glory and a place at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Already Uganda's Sevens team qualified and will play in the 2018 World Cup Sevens in California, United States in July.
