2023 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification

2023 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification

Tournament details
Dates	5 June 2021 – TBD
No. of nations	14
← 2019 →

2021—22 Rugby Africa Cup
← 2019–20

The 2021–22 Rugby Africa Cup, which doubles as Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for Africa began in June 2021, where teams will compete for one direct qualification spot into the final World Cup tournament and for one place in the Final Qualification Tournament.^[1]

Format[]

The World Cup qualification process doubles as a new two-year format for the Africa Cup.

Qualifying begins with a round robin tournament between Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Burundi. The winner of this tournament advances to the group stage of the tournament.

The top two teams from each of the four groups then advance to the final round in 2022. The top team from the final round qualifies as Africa 1. The second place team advances to the Final Qualification Tournament.^[2]

Entrants[]

Fourteen participants will enter the Africa qualifiers in a bid to join South Africa (already qualified due to top 3 finish in the pool stages in 2019) at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Three teams begin play in Round 1, with eleven more in Round 2. The same seeding from the cancelled 2019–20 Rugby Africa Cup is used for the group stage. Team World rankings taken prior to first Africa qualifying match.^[3]

Teams in bold have previously competed in a Rugby World Cup.

Nation	Rank	Began play	Qualifying status
Algeria	92	14 July 2021
Burkina Faso	90	5 June 2021
Burundi	102	5 June 2021	Eliminated by Cameroon on 9 June 2021
Cameroon	105	5 June 2021	Eliminated by Burkina Faso on 13 June 2021
Ghana	87	10 July 2021	Eliminated by Algeria on 18 July 2021
Ivory Coast	40	3 July 2021
Kenya	35	3 July 2021
Madagascar	47	1 July 2021	Eliminated by points difference on 11 July 2021
Namibia	25	7 July 2021
Senegal	45	3 July 2021
South Africa	1	N/A	Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup
Tunisia	39	10 July 2021	Withdrew from qualification tournament on 8 July 2021
Uganda	41	10 July 2021
Zambia	68	7 July 2021	Eliminated by Kenya on 11 July 2021
Zimbabwe	34	18 July 2021

Round 1: Rugby Africa Cup Repechage[]

The first round was a round-robin held from 5–13 June 2021 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.^[4]

Advanced to Round 2

Rank	Team	Games				Points			Bonus Points	Table Points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff
1	Burkina Faso	2	2	0	0	69	16	+53	1	9
2	Cameroon	2	1	0	1	94	20	+74	2	6
3	Burundi	2	0	0	2	6	133	-127	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 1 points 4 or more tries - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

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Round 2: 2021 Africa Cup[]

Round 2 will consist of four pools of three teams, competing from 1–18 July 2021. The top two teams in each pool will advance to Round 3.

Pool A[]

Originally, this pool was meant be hosted by Namibia at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium in Windhoek.^[5] However, due to restrictions in Namibia, Rugby Africa moved the location of this pool to the Ivory Coast.^[6]

Advance to Round 3

Rank	Team	Games				Points			Bonus Points	Table Points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff
1	Namibia	2	1	0	1	65	34	+31	1	5
2	Ivory Coast	2	1	0	1	43	37	+6	1	5
3	Madagascar	2	1	0	1	34	71	-37	0	4
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Pool B[]

All matches of Pool B will be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya.^[7]

Advance to Round 3

Rank	Team	Games				Points			Bonus Points	Table Points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff
1	Senegal	2	2	0	0	40	24	+16	0	8
2	Kenya	2	1	0	1	64	28	+36	2	6
3	Zambia	2	0	0	2	13	65	-52	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Pool C[]

All matches for Pool C will be hosted in Kampala, Uganda.^[8]

Advance to Round 3

Rank	Team	Games				Points			Bonus Points	Table Points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff
1	Uganda	2	1	0	1	69	34	+35	2	6
2	Algeria	2	1	0	1	42	38	4	1	5
3	Ghana	2	1	0	1	34	73	-39	0	4
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Pool D[]

All matches of Pool D were due to be hosted in Monastir, Tunisia,^[4] however due to the escalating COVID-19 situation in Tunisia, the group was moved to Zimbabwe.^[9] At the same time, Tunisia also withdrew from the competition meaning Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso would gain automatic progression to the next stage of the qualification process. A 2-game match up between the two sides will confirm seedings for the next stage.

Advance to Round 3

Rank	Team	Games				Points			Bonus Points	Table Points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff
1	Zimbabwe	2	2	0	0	196	8	188	2	10
2	Burkina Faso	2	0	0	2	8	196	-188	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Round 3: 2022 Africa Cup[]

The 2022 Africa Cup will act as the third and final round of the African Qualification process, where by the winner of an 8-team straight knockout competition will advance to the World Cup as Africa 1. The runner-up will advance to the Final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2. This stage will begin with 4 quarter finals, followed by semi-finals and culminating in a final, all played at the same venue.^[10]

On 20 September 2021, Rugby Africa confirmed that France will be the host nation for the tournament.^[11]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	July 2022
	Namibia
					July 2022
	Burkina Faso
	July 2022
	Zimbabwe
									July 2022
	Ivory Coast
	July 2022
	Senegal
					July 2022
	Algeria
	July 2022
	Uganda
	Kenya

See also[]

• Africa Cup
• Rugby Africa

References[]

External links[]

• Rugby World Cup Official Site