The 2021–22 Rugby Africa Cup, which doubled as Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for Africa began in June 2021, where teams competed for one direct qualification spot into the final World Cup tournament and for one place in the final Qualification Tournament.
Format The World Cup qualification process doubled as a new two-year format for the Rugby Africa Cup.
Qualifying began with a round robin repechage tournament between Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Burundi (the three lowest ranked teams at the time in Africa). The winner of this tournament advanced to the next round - Africa Cup 2021.
The second stage saw the remaining 12 teams divided into 4 groups of 3 where they played a single round-robin tournament to decide the pool winners. The top-2 teams after this round then progressed to the final stage of the African Qualification process, with seeding determining who played who in a knock-out competition in 2022.
Round 3 saw a phased knock-out competition; consisting of 4 quarter-finals, 2 semi-finals and a final, with the winner of the final qualifying as Africa 1. The runner-up advanced to the final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2.
Entrants Fourteen participants entered 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.
Teams in bold have previously competed in a Rugby World Cup.
Nation Rank Began play Qualifying status N/A 14 July 2021 Eliminated by Kenya on 6 July 2022 N/A 5 June 2021 Eliminated by Namibia on 1 July 2022 N/A 5 June 2021 Eliminated by Cameroon on 9 June 2021 101 5 June 2021 Eliminated by Burkina Faso on 13 June 2021 87 10 July 2021 Eliminated by Algeria on 18 July 2021 42 3 July 2021 Eliminated by Zimbabwe on 1 July 2022 32 3 July 2021 Advances to Final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2 on 10 July 2022 51 1 July 2021 Eliminated by points difference on 11 July 2021 24 7 July 2021 Qualified as Africa 1 on 10 July 2022 54 3 July 2021 Eliminated by Algeria on 2 July 2022 1 N/A Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2019 World Cup 39 10 July 2021 Withdrew from qualification tournament on 8 July 2021 40 10 July 2021 Eliminated by Kenya on 2 July 2022 66 7 July 2021 Eliminated by Kenya on 11 July 2021 35 18 July 2021 Eliminated by Namibia on 6 July 2022
Round 1: Rugby Africa Cup Repechage The first round was a round-robin tournament held from 5–13 June 2021 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Advanced to Round 2
RankTeamGamesPointsBonusPointsTable PointsPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst 1 2 2 0 0 69 16 +53 1 9 2 2 1 0 1 94 20 +74 2 6 3 2 0 0 2 6 133 -127 0 0Points were awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 4 pointsDraw - 1 points 4 or more tries - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Round 2: 2021 Africa Cup Round 2 consisted of four pools of three teams, competing from 1–18 July 2021. The top two teams in each pool advanced to Round 3.
Pool A Originally, this pool was meant be hosted by Namibia at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium in Windhoek. However, due to restrictions in Namibia, Rugby Africa moved the location of this pool to the Ivory Coast.
Advance to Round 3
RankTeamGamesPointsBonusPointsTable PointsPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst 1 2 1 0 1 65 34 +31 1 5 2 2 1 0 1 43 37 +6 1 5 3 2 1 0 1 34 71 -37 0 4Points were awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 4 pointsDraw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Pool B All matches of Pool B was hosted in Nairobi, Kenya.
Advance to Round 3
RankTeamGamesPointsBonusPointsTable PointsPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst 1 2 2 0 0 40 24 +16 0 8 2 2 1 0 1 61 28 +33 2 6 3 2 0 0 2 13 62 -49 0 0Points were awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 4 pointsDraw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Pool C All matches for Pool C was hosted in Kampala, Uganda.
Advance to Round 3
RankTeamGamesPointsBonusPointsTable PointsPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst 1 2 1 0 1 69 34 +35 2 6 2 2 1 0 1 42 38 +4 1 5 3 2 1 0 1 34 73 -39 0 4Points were awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 4 pointsDraw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Pool D All matches of Pool D were due to be hosted in Monastir, Tunisia, however due to the escalating COVID-19 situation in Tunisia, the group was moved to Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe to host Rugby Africa Pool D games At the same time, Tunisia also withdrew from the competition meaning Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso gained automatic progression to the next stage of the qualification process. A 2-game match up between the two sides confirmed seedings for the next stage.
Advance to Round 3
RankTeamGamesPointsBonusPointsTable PointsPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst 1 2 2 0 0 196 8 +188 2 10 2 2 0 0 2 8 196 -188 0 0Points were awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 4 pointsDraw - 1 points At least 3 more tries than opponent - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Round 3: 2022 Africa Cup The 2022 Africa Cup acted as the third and final round of the African Qualification process, whereby the winner of an 8-team straight knockout competition qualified for the World Cup as Africa 1. The runner-up advanced to the final Qualification Tournament as Africa 2. This stage began with 4 quarter finals, followed by semi-finals and culminating in a final.HOW TEAMS FROM AFRICA WILL QUALIFY FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023
All matches were played in France across the Stade Delort in Marseille, and Stade Maurice David in Aix-en-ProvenceTHE AFRICAN QUALIFIERS FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 WILL BE PLAYED IN FRANCE IN JULY 2022
Teams Rankings as of 27 June 2022 prior to tournament start date Nation World Ranking Final standings 24 1st 35 2nd 90 3rd 27 4th 52 5th 42 6th 45 7th 91 8th
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final: Africa 1 play-off
Team details FB 15Divan RossouwRW 14J. C. GreylingOC 13Johan Deysel (c)IC 12Danco Burger LW 11Gerswin MoutonFH 10Cliven Loubser SH 9 Damian Stevens N8 8 Adriaan Booysen OF 7 Janco VenterBF 6 Wian ConradieRL 5 Johan RetiefLL 4 Adriaan Ludick TP 3 Aranos Coetzee HK 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld LP 1 Des Sethie Replacements:HK 16Louis van der Westhuizen PR 17Jano Otto PR 18Jason Benade LK 19Ruan Ludick FL 20Prince ǃGaoseb SH 21TC Kisting FH 22P. W. Steenkamp CE 23Alcino Izaacs Coach: Allister Coetzee FB 15Darwin MukidzaRW 14Jacob Ojee OC 13Vincent OnyalaIC 12John OkothLW 11Collins InjeraFH 10Dominic CoulsonSH 9 Samuel AsatiN8 8 Bethwel AnamiOF 7 Daniel Sikuta (c)BF 6 George Nyambua RL 5 Thomas Okeyo LL 4 Malcolm OnsandoTP 3 Ephraim Oduor HK 2 Eugene Sifuna LP 1 Patrick Ouko Replacements:HK 16Teddy Akala PR 17Edward Mwaura PR 18Joseph Odero LK 19Davis Chenge FL 20Martin Owilah SH 21Brian TangaFH 22Jone KubuCE 23Bryceson Adaka Coach: Paul Odera Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe (England) Ben Blain (Scotland) Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure (France)
Ranking matches
5–8th place play-offs
Semi-finals
7th/8th play-off
5th/6th play-off
See also Africa Cup Rugby Africa
References
External links Rugby World Cup Official Site