2019 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification

Qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for Africa Rugby began in June 2016, with 14 teams competing. On 18 August 2018, Namibia qualified for the World Cup by winning the 2018 Rugby Africa Gold Cup, defeating Kenya, who finished second and advanced to the repechage tournament.^[1]

Format

The Rugby Africa Gold Cup is the perpetual trophy awarded to the winner of the Africa Gold Cup, a qualifier for the Ruby World Cup organised by World Rugby’s African association, Rugby Africa, since 2000.

The Africa Cup, controlled by Rugby Africa (CAR), will be the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2019.

The first qualifying round was the 2016 1B and 1C Divisions. The winner of Division 1C was promoted to 1B and the second round of qualifying, while the team placed bottom in 1B was relegated and eliminated from Rugby World Cup contention.

Similarly, 2017 saw Divisions 1A (Gold Cup) and 1B (Silver Cup) act as Round 2. The winner of the 2017 Silver Cup advanced to the Gold Cup for 2018 and remain in contention, while the loser of the 2017 Gold Cup was relegated to the 2018 Silver Cup and eliminated from Rugby World Cup contention.

In Round 3, the winners of the 2018 Gold Cup will qualify for the World Cup as 'Africa 1', while the runner-up, 'Africa 2' will advance to the Repechage tournament as the African representative.^[2]

Entrants

Fourteen teams will compete for the 2019 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification. The teams world rankings are prior to the first African qualification match on 5 June 2016.

Nation	Rank	Begins play	Qualifying status
Botswana	63	26 June 2016	Eliminated by Ivory Coast on 5 July 2017
Cameroon	92	5 June 2016	Withdrew from World Cup contention in June 2016
Ivory Coast	52	29 June 2016	Eliminated by Morocco on 8 July 2017
Kenya	28	24 June 2017	Advanced to the Repechage as Africa 2
Madagascar	41	12 June 2016	Eliminated by Morocco on 5 July 2017
Mauritius	88	10 July 2016	Eliminated by Nigeria on 13 July 2016
Morocco	54	10 July 2016	Eliminated by Kenya's victory on 11 August 2018
Namibia	21	1 July 2017	Qualified by defeating Kenya on 18 August 2018
Nigeria	79	13 July 2016	Eliminated by Morocco on 16 July 2016
Senegal	50	15 June 2016	Eliminated by Tunisia on 5 August 2017
South Africa	3	N/A	Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2015 World Cup
Tunisia	39	26 June 2016	Eliminated by Kenya 11 August 2018
Uganda	47	24 June 2017	Eliminated by Kenya's victory on 11 August 2018
Zambia	82	12 June 2016	Eliminated by Senegal on 15 June 2016
Zimbabwe	31	24 June 2017	Eliminated by Namibia on 4 August 2018

Round 1

The first round consisted of ten matches between 10 teams. The winner of the Africa Cup Division 1C, Morocco, advanced to the second round and was promoted to division 1B for 2017, while the two winners of division 1B, Senegal and Tunisia, advanced to division 1A.

Round 1A: 2016 Africa Cup Division 1B

Africa Cup Division 1B was contested by six teams, in a two-group round-robin tournament. Pool 1 was held in Monastir, Tunisia, while Pool 2 was held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The team with the worst record was relegated to Division 1C in 2017, and thus eliminated from qualification.

Pool A

Advances to Round 2, Div 1A

Advances to Round 2, Div 1B

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	Senegal	2	2	0	0	84	27	+57	1	9
2	Madagascar	2	1	0	1	48	45	+3	1	5
3	Zambia	2	0	0	2	18	78	−60	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points Draw – 2 points 4 or more tries – 1 point Loss within 7 points – 1 point Loss greater than 7 points – 0 points

Matches

12 June 2016 15:00 Madagascar  24–15  Zambia Match centre[3] Stade Mahamasina, Antananarivo, Madagascar Referee: Gauthier 0zoux (Mauritius) 15 June 2016 15:00 Zambia  3–54  Senegal (1 BP) Match centre[4] Stade Mahamasina, Antananarivo, Madagascar Referee: Gauthier 0zoux (Mauritius) 19 June 2016 15:00 (1 BP) Madagascar  24–30  Senegal Match centre[5] Stade Mahamasina, Antananarivo, Madagascar Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

Pool B

Advances to Round 2, Div 1A

Advances to Round 2, Div 1B

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	Tunisia	2	2	0	0	93	15	+78	2	10
2	Ivory Coast	2	1	0	1	25	63	−38	0	4
3	Botswana	2	0	0	2	23	63	−40	1	1
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points Draw – 2 points 4 or more tries – 1 point Loss within 7 points – 1 point Loss greater than 7 points – 0 points

Matches

26 June 2016 16:00 (1 BP) Tunisia  43–10  Botswana Match centre[6] Report[7] Ben Jannet stadium, Monastir, Tunisia Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Sylvain Mane (Senegal) 29 June 2016 16:00 (1 BP) Botswana  13–20  Ivory Coast Match centre[8] Report[9] Ben Jannet stadium, Monastir, Tunisia Attendance: 800 Referee: Constant Cap (Kenya) 2 July 2016 22:00 (1 BP) Tunisia  50–5  Ivory Coast Match centre[10] Report[11] Ben Jannet stadium, Monastir, Tunisia Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Vivien Praderie (France)

Final

The two pool winners contested the final, with both teams advancing to the 2017 Africa Gold Cup.

12 November 2016 15:00

Senegal	15–14	Tunisia
	Report[12]

Ben Jannet stadium, Monastir, Tunisia Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Constant Cap (Kenya)

Round 1B: 2016 Africa Cup Division 1C

Africa Cup Division 1C was contested by three teams in a round-robin tournament. Cameroon were meant to compete but withdrew from the tournament after it was rescheduled for a later date. The tournament was held in Casablanca, Morocco.

Advances to Round 2, Div 1B

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	Morocco	2	2	0	0	121	13	+108	2	10
2	Nigeria	2	1	0	1	41	74	−33	1	5
3	Mauritius	2	0	0	2	24	99	−75	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points Draw – 2 points 4 or more tries – 1 point Loss within 7 points – 1 point Loss greater than 7 points – 0 points

Matches

10 July 2016 17:00 Mauritius  3–68  Morocco (1 BP) Match centre[13] Report[14] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 1,700 Referee: Salem Attalah (France) 13 July 2016 17:00 (1 BP) Nigeria  31–21  Mauritius Match centre[15] Report[16] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Akram Garchi (Tunisia) 16 July 2016 17:00 (1 BP) Morocco  53–10  Nigeria Match centre[17] Report[18] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Bahroun Haykel (Tunisia)

Round 2

The second round will see the five highest finishers of the six teams in the Gold Cup, Kenya, Namibia, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, progress to the 2018 Gold Cup, with the last place side, Senegal, relegated to the Silver Division and eliminated from World Cup qualification. The Winner of Silver Cup, Morocco, was the first team to earn their place in the 2018 Gold Cup.

Round 2A: 2017 Africa Gold Cup

Advances to Round 3

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff
1	Namibia	5	5	0	0	272	64	+208	5	25
2	Kenya	5	3	1	1	226	135	+91	4	18
3	Uganda	5	3	1	1	190	126	+64	2	16
4	Tunisia	5	2	0	3	91	272	−181	0	8
5	Zimbabwe	5	1	0	4	111	157	−46	2	6
6	Senegal	5	0	0	5	75	211	−136	1	1
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points Draw – 2 points 4 or more tries – 1 point Loss within 7 points – 1 point Loss greater than 7 points – 0 points

Matches

24 June 2017 17:00 (1 BP) Kenya  33–33  Uganda Report[19] RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Referee: Laurent Cardona (France) 24 June 2017 16:00 Senegal  16–28  Zimbabwe (1 BP) Report[20] Stade Iba Mar Diop, Dakar Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Thomas Charabas (France) 1 July 2017 16:00 (1 BP) Senegal  16–17  Uganda Report[21] Stade Iba Mar Diop, Dakar Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Sébastien Minery (France) 1 July 2017 19:00 Tunisia  7–53  Namibia (1 BP) Report[22] Ben Jannet Stadium, Monastir Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Cédric Marchat (France) 8 July 2017 15:00 (1 BP) Kenya  100–10  Tunisia Report[23] RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Attendance: 4,100 Referee: Tual Trainini (France) 8 July 2017 15:00 (1 BP) Namibia  95–0  Senegal Report[24] Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Egon Seconds (South Africa) 15 July 2017 13:00 (1 BP) Kenya  45–25  Senegal Report[25] RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Thomas Charabas (France) 15 July 2017 15:00 (1 BP) Uganda  78–17  Tunisia Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Referee: Lesego Legoete (South Africa) 15 July 2017 15:00 (1 BP) Namibia  31–26  Zimbabwe (1 BP) Report[26] Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa) 22 July 2017 14:00 Uganda  24–48  Namibia (1 BP) Report[27] Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Referee: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa) 22 July 2017 15:00 Zimbabwe  22–41  Kenya (1 BP) Report[28] Hartsfield Rugby Ground, Bulawayo Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Lesego Legoete (South Africa) 29 July 2017 15:00 Zimbabwe  23–31  Tunisia Report[29] Police Grounds, Harare Referee: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa) 29 July 2017 15:00 (1 BP) Namibia  45–7  Kenya Report[30] Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Egon Seconds (South Africa) 5 August 2017 16:00 (1 BP) Uganda  38–12  Zimbabwe Report[31] Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa) 5 August 2017 17:00 Tunisia  26–18  Senegal Report[32] Ben Jannet Stadium, Monastir Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Adrien Descottes (France)

Round 2B: 2017 Africa Silver Cup

The 2017 Africa Silver Cup was contested by four teams in a knockout format. The tournament was held in Casablanca, Morocco.

	Semi-finals				Final
	5 July 2017 – Casablanca
	Ivory Coast	58
					8 July 2017 – Casablanca
	Botswana	25
					Morocco	8
	5 July 2017 – Casablanca
					Ivory Coast	3
	Morocco	57
	Madagascar	33
					Third place play-off
					8 July 2017 – Casablanca
					Botswana	24
					Madagascar	47

Matches

5 July 2017 16:00 Ivory Coast  58–25  Botswana Report[33] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 800 Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France) 5 July 2017 18:00 Morocco  57–33  Madagascar Report[34] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Cedric Clave (France) 8 July 2017 15:30 Botswana  24–47  Madagascar Report[35] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 600 Referee: Cedric Clave (France) 8 July 2017 17:30 Morocco  8–3  Ivory Coast Report[36] COC stadium, Casablanca, Morocco Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)

Round 3: 2018 Africa Gold Cup

Six teams will contest the 2018 Rugby Africa Gold Cup and the final round of the African qualification, with the winner qualifying as Africa 1. The second placed team, Africa 2, will advance to the repechage tournament.

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff
1	Namibia	5	5	0	0	347	69	+278	5	25
2	Kenya	5	4	0	1	206	135	+71	1	17
3	Uganda	5	2	0	3	160	172	−12	1	9
4	Tunisia	5	2	0	3	66	279	−213	1	9
5	Zimbabwe	5	1	1	3	139	162	−23	2	8
6	Morocco	5	0	1	4	96	197	−101	1	3
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win – 4 points Draw – 2 points 3 or more tries than the opponent – 1 point Loss within 7 points – 1 point Loss greater than 7 points – 0 points

Matches

16 June 2018 13:00 Zimbabwe  23–23  Morocco Report Police Grounds, Harare Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa) 16 June 2018 15:30 (1 BP) Namibia  55–6  Uganda Report Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa) 23 June 2018 16:00 (1 BP) Namibia  118–0  Tunisia Report Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa) 23 June 2018 18:00 (1 BP) Morocco  24–28  Kenya Report COC stadium, Casablanca Attendance: 800 Referee: Sébastien Minery (France) 30 June 2018 14:00 Kenya  45–36  Zimbabwe Report RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Tual Trainini (France) 30 June 2018 17:00 Morocco  7–63  Namibia (1 BP) Report COC stadium, Casablanca Attendance: 600 Referee: Adrien Descottes (France) 7 July 2018 14:00 Kenya  38–22  Uganda Report RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Attendance: 3,200 Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa) 7 July 2018 17:00 Tunisia  18–14  Zimbabwe (1 BP) Report Boujemaa El-Kemiti stadium, Béja Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Jonathan Dufort (France) 4 August 2018 14:00 (1 BP) Uganda  67–12  Tunisia Report Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa) 4 August 2018 16:00 Zimbabwe  28–58  Namibia (1 BP) Report Police Grounds, Harare Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Egon Seconds (South Africa) 11 August 2018 14:00 (1 BP) Kenya  67–0  Tunisia Report RFUEA Ground, Nairobi Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Julien Castaignede (France) 11 August 2018 16:00 Uganda  47–29  Morocco Report Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa) 18 August 2018 14:00 Uganda  18–38  Zimbabwe (1 BP) Report Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa) 18 August 2018 16:00 (1 BP) Namibia  53–28  Kenya Report Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Egon Seconds (South Africa) 18 August 2018 18:00 (1 BP) Tunisia  36–13  Morocco Report Jemmal Stadium, Jemmal Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)

References