Nairobi — The Postal Corporation of Kenya on Thursday announced a Sh1 million sponsorship for the PostaPay rugby Grand Slam to be played at the Rugby Football Union of East Africa ground on Saturday.

One match will feature the Kenya Cup champions Kenya Harlequin and Nakuru RFC, the Zain Enterprise Cup champions.

The other will be between the Mwamba Cup champions (Quins II) and the winners of the Eric Shirley Shield (KCB)

The winner of Saturday's match will receive Sh200,000. In the second division, the winner between Mwamba Cup (Quins II) and Eric Shirley Shield League (Kenya Commercial Bank) will get Sh100,000.

Richard Omwela, the Kenya Rugby Football Union explained that the rest of the sponsorship money will go towards the logistics and running of the KRFU secretariat.

Sponsorship by Postal Corporation of Kenya for the Grand Slam which was last played in Mombasa in 2005 between Quins and Impala comes at a time when the profile of the game is considerably growing in the country.

Jane Mutuha, the PCK's Head of Marketing presented the cheque and said the success of the national seven-a-side and 15's teams has helped market Kenya positively. "Kenya are always crowd pullers in the IRB Sevens circuit," she noted.

Spread the game

Omwela was delighted with the entry of PCK as one of the sponsors of rugby.

"It will help us spread the game of rugby which is the most sought up sport and is being played in almost every corner of the country. We would urge PCK to consider partnering with us for a long time," the chairman urged.

He added that Grand Slam was one of the highest points of Kenya rugby and the sponsorship will inspire other corporates to consider sponsoring the Kenya Cup and Eric Shirley Shield Leagues.

Omwela was full of praise for Zain Enterprise Cup winners Nakuru RFC who have raised the profile of the game in the Rift Valley besides being the only club with the largest number of players outside the country.