The 2017 Rugby Africa season contains a series of rugby union tournaments scheduled for 2017 and organised by the governing body of rugby union in Africa, Rugby Africa. The top-tier event is the Rugby Africa Gold Cup – formerly simply known as the Africa Cup – a six-team competition which was played on a round-robin basis from June to August 2017.
As in previous Africa Cup seasons, all participating teams were divided into multiple tiers. For 2017, a restructuring and subsequent rebranding occurred as follows:[1]
Gold Cup: the tier 1 event. The four teams from 2016's Division 1A – Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe – were joined by the two pool winners from Division 1B, Senegal and Tunisia. This competition was played on a round-robin basis from 24 June to 5 August 2017.
Silver Cup: the tier 2 event. The three highest-ranked non-finalists from Division 1B – Botswana, Ivory Coast and Madagascar – were joined by Division 1C champions Morocco for a tournament that was held between 5 and 8 July 2017.
Bronze Cup: the tier 3 event. The Bronze Cup consisted of six teams, divided into a Group North and a Group South. The northern group took place from 17 to 26 March and contained Nigeria from 2016's Division 1C and Algeria and Cameroon, both returning after not competing in the competition in 2016. The southern group took place from 24 March to 2 April and was made up of Zambia, relegated from Division 1B, Mauritius from Division 1C and Rwanda, who recently attained full membership of World Rugby.[2]
Regional Challenge: the lowest tier of African rugby. The remaining twelve teams were divided into four groups of three teams; the Group West 1 tournament containing Benin, Ghana and Togo was played from 30 April to 6 May, the Group West 2 tournament containing Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger was played from 21 to 27 May, the Group Centre tournament containing Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and was played from 1 to 7 October, and the Group South tournament containing , and Swaziland was played from 15 to 22 October.
In addition to the main fifteens tournaments, an Under-20 competition featuring eight teams was held in April and a rugby sevens tournament involving twelve teams was held in November. A women's rugby sevens tournament is also to be scheduled.
Teams[]
The following teams will take part in the 2017 Rugby Africa season.
Rankings are taken from the start of each division[3]
The 2017 Gold Cup doubles as qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The last place team will be relegated to the 2018 Silver Cup and eliminated from World Cup qualification.[4]
Standings[]
The final standings[5] in the 2017 Rugby Africa Gold Cup were:
Try: Charles Uhuru Odongo 9' Brian Asaba 45' Michael Okorach 72' Con: Philip Wokorach 10', 46', 73' Pen: Philip Wokorach 6', 39', 64', 70' Cards: Pius Ogena 29' to 39'
Try: Philip Wokorach 9', 28', 67' Charles Uhuru Odongo 10' Alex Mubiru 15' Brian Odongo 23' Ivan Magomu 35' James Odongo 40' Michael Okorach 50' Pius Ogena 52' Mathias Ochwo 57' Solomon Okia 62' Con: Philip Wokorach 9', 11', 24', 29', 51', 53', 58', 63' Ivan Makmot 69'
The 2017 Silver Cup doubles as qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Winner gets promoted to the 2018 Gold Cup, while all other teams will be eliminated from World Cup qualification.[4]
Try: Moepi Tabang 59' Penalty Try 70' Jeremy Babbage 79' Con: Katse Tshoganetso (1/2) 60' Pen: Patrick Dent (1/1) 17' Katse Tshoganetso (1/1) 28' Cards: Patrick Dent 31' to 41'
Try: Jonathan Kevin Lo 11' Yann Lohore 14', 23' Dit Peres Paul Diallo 34', 42' Dion Evrard Oulai 38' Jourdan Ezer Kosse 46' Dov Ore Kosse 56' Con: Jonathan Kevin Lo (6/8) 12', 15', 35', 39', 43', 57' Drop: Jonathan Kevin Lo 8', 32' Cards: Yann Lohore 58' to 68'
* Legend: Pos = Position, Pl = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, Pts = Log Points.
Matches[]
The Bronze Cup North fixtures were originally to be played in Yaoundé in May 2017, with Cameroon also present, but had been postponed through lack of organization that Rugby Africa disqualified Cameroon and suspended the activity of the country's federation for three months.[6] The matches will now be a home-and-home series between Algeria and Nigeria, with dates to be determined.
Nigeria also withdrew, so Algeria face Zambia in a one off fixture on 4 November.
Group South[]
Standings[]
The final standings in the 2017 Rugby Africa Bronze Cup Group South were:
Gabon was originally intended to participate, but has withdrawn.[8] The match between Burundi and DR Congo was to be played on 7 October in Bujumbura, Burundi, but with DR Congo not showing up for the match, they are declared forfeit and face the possibility of suspension.[9]
Kenya
Botswana
Algeria
Mauritius
Namibia
Ivory Coast
Cameroon
Rwanda
Senegal
Madagascar
Nigeria
Zambia
Tunisia
Morocco
Uganda
Zimbabwe
Benin
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Ghana
Mali
DR Congo
Togo
Niger
Eswatini
29
