2027 Men's Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification

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2027 Men's Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification
Tournament details
Dates20 July 2024 – August 2025
No. of nations16
← 2023
2031 →

The qualifying process for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup for African teams began in July 2024, with 16 teams competing for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament. [1]

Contents

Format

Qualifying began with the top eight African sides (excluding South Africa) playing in a straight knock-out format to determine seedings (1–7) for the final round of the qualification process, with the bottom placed side of round 1, eliminated from qualification.

Round two, saw the eight development African nations compete in a straight knock-out format over two pools, with the winners of each pool facing each other in a round 2 final. The winner of the final progressed to the third and final round of the regional qualification process as seed 8, whilst the other seven nations were eliminated.

Round three, will see the final eight sides face each other in a straight knock-out format based on their seedings in 2024. The winner of this round will qualify for the Rugby World Cup as Africa 1, whilst the runner-up will face Asia 2 from the Asian qualification process in a play-off series to determine who advances to the Final Qualification Tournament.

Entrants

Eight teams competed during for the Africa qualifiers for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with South Africa the only team thus far qualified from the Region. (Rankings as of first qualification match in this region)

Nation Rank Began playQualifying status
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 5920 July 2024
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 7720 November 2024Eliminated by Morocco on 20 November 2024
Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 9220 July 2024Eliminated by Ivory Coast on 28 July 2024
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 10820 November 2024Eliminated by Madagascar on 20 November 2024
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 8718 December 2024Eliminated by Zambia on 18 December 2024
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 6220 July 2024
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 3420 July 2024
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 3920 November 2024
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 4820 November 2024Eliminated by Morocco on 24 November 2024
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 2620 July 2024
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 6918 December 2024Eliminated by Tunisia on 18 December 2024
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 5620 July 2024
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 1N/AQualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 4618 December 2024Eliminated by Morocco on 9 February 2025
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 4320 July 2024
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 6818 December 2024Eliminated by Tunisia on 22 December 2024
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 2720 July 2024

Round 1: 2024 Rugby Africa Cup

The first round was a straight knock-out tournament held from 20 to 28 July 2024 in Kampala, Uganda. [2]

The final rankings determined seedlings (1–7) to determine the match-ups in the third round.

Bracket

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 
 
 
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 38
 
 
 
Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 5
 
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 10
 
 
 
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 32
 
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 22
 
 
 
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 20
 
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 29
 
 
 
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 3
 
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 36
 
 
 
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 17
 
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 12
 
 
 
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 20 Third place
 
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 32
 
 
 
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 12
 
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 38
 
 
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 27
 

Quarter-finals

20 July 2024
10:00
Namibia  Flag of Namibia.svg38–5Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Precious Pazani (Zimbabwe)
20 July 2024
12:00
Kenya  Flag of Kenya.svg36-17Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)
20 July 2024
14:00
Algeria  Flag of Algeria.svg32–12Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Julien Caulier (France)
20 July 2024
16:00
Zimbabwe  Flag of Zimbabwe.svg22–20Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Benjamin Beuriot (France)

Semi-finals

24 July 2024
14:00
Kenya  Flag of Kenya.svg12–20Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Julien Caulier (France)
24 July 2024
16:00
Namibia  Flag of Namibia.svg10–32Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)

Third place match

28 July 2024
14:00
Kenya  Flag of Kenya.svg27–38Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Talent Gandiwa (Zimbabwe)

Final

28 July 2024
16:00
Zimbabwe  Flag of Zimbabwe.svg29–3Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Julien Caulier (France)

Ranking matches

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 25
 
 
 
Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 15
 
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 34
 
 
 
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 31
 
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 25
 
 
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 8
 
Third place
 
 
 
 
 
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 23
 
 
Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 10

Semi-finals

24 July 2024
10:00
Senegal  Flag of Senegal.svg25–8Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Stéphane Rakotonirainy (Madagascar)
24 July 2024
12:00
Uganda  Flag of Uganda.svg25–15Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Nicardo Pienaar (Namibia)

5th/6th play-off

28 July 2024
12:00
Uganda  Flag of Uganda.svg34–31Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Zaid Isaaccs (Namibia)

Relegation play-off

with this loss for Burkina Faso, they were eliminated from the qualification process.

28 July 2024
10:00
Ivory Coast  Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg23–10Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso
Report
Mandela National Stadium, Kampala
Referee: Benjamin Beuriot (France)

Round 2: 2024 Rugby Africa Repechage

Pool A

Pool A was a knock-out tournament held between the 18–22 December 2024 in Jemmal, Tunisia.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 34
 
 
 
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 10
 
Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 29
 
 
 
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 7
 
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 31
 
 
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 22
 
Third place
 
 
 
 
 
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 19
 
 
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 24

Semi-finals

18 December 2024
11:00
Zambia  Flag of Zambia.svg31–22Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana
Report
Stade Municipal de Jemmal, Jemmal
18 December 2024
14:00
Tunisia  Flag of Tunisia.svg34–10Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
Report
Stade Municipal de Jemmal, Jemmal

Third place match

22 December 2024
11:00
Nigeria  Flag of Nigeria.svg19–24Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana
Report
Stade Municipal de Jemmal, Jemmal

Final

22 December 2024
14:00
Tunisia  Flag of Tunisia.svg29–7Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
Report
Stade Municipal de Jemmal, Jemmal

Pool B

Pool B was a knock-out tournament held between the 20–24 November 2024 in Casablanca, Morocco.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 33
 
 
 
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 7
 
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 53
 
 
 
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 37
 
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 64
 
 
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 0
 
Third place
 
 
 
 
 
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 36
 
 
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 10

Semi-finals

20 November 2024
13:00 WAT (UTC+1)
Morocco  Flag of Morocco.svg64–0Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana
Report
Stade du COC, Casablanca
20 November 2024
15:30 WAT (UTC+1)
Madagascar  Flag of Madagascar.svg33–7Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon
Report
Stade du COC, Casablanca

Third place match

24 November 2024
10:00 WAT (UTC+1)
Botswana  Flag of Botswana.svg36–10Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon
Stade du COC, Casablanca

Final

24 November 2024
13:00 WAT (UTC+1)
Morocco  Flag of Morocco.svg53–37Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar
Stade du COC, Casablanca

Round 2 Final

9 February 2025
16:00 WAT (UTC+1)
Morocco  Flag of Morocco.svg26–12Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia
Père Jégo Stadium, Casablanca

Round 3: 2025 Rugby Africa Cup

Round 3 will commence in July 2025, with a round-robin tournament determining the winner and qualifying for the Rugby World Cup as Africa 1. The runner-up (Africa 2) will progress to an Africa / Asia play-off match against Asia 2 to decide who plays in the Final Qualification Tournament.

Like the first round, Kampala, Uganda will host the tournament. [3]

The following teams have qualified for the final stage of African qualification:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Qualification process confirmed for expanded Men's Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia". Women's and Men's Rugby World Cup. 13 August 2024.
  2. ↑ "2024 Rugby Africa Cup, 18th to 29th July 2024 in Kampala, Uganda". www.ncs.go.ug. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "Uganda Welcomes 2024 Rugby Africa Cup for Historic Continental Tournament". Rugby Africa. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
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