The national U-21 rugby team will host their Ugandan counterparts in the first ever 15s friendly match scheduled for October 23 in Kigali, according to the Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) Technical Director, Jean Baptiste Itanzi.

Itanzi says the main purpose of the game is to gauge the level of the young players, "We will have a new line-up of players. We want to use the game to know our standing against the more established teams.”

He noted that the majority of the team will be selected from the students who played in last month's regional inter-schools FEASSA Games held in Rwanda as well as the recent Peace One Day tournament.

The young Cranes are fresh from competing in the Africa Rugby Division 1A U-19 tournament last month in Harare where they played against Namibia, Kenya and hosts Zimbabwe.

In spite of being relegated to Division 1B after losing all games they present a tough contest for the young Silverbacks who last played in 2013 at the Safari 7s (formerly Safaricom 7s) in Kenya in the U-19 category.

The friendly is positive news for the Silverbacks who once again won't make it to Safari Sevens after receiving the invitation a week to the annual tournament which takes place this weekend at the Kasarani stadium in Nairobi.

Since making their debut in 2006, the Silverbacks have missed out on the competition in 2009, 2013 and 2014.

The tournament is Africa's premier 7s rugby event and it attracts teams from across the world.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw