All to Play for in Round Th...

All to Play for in Round Three as Quarter-Finals Beckon

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Africa Men's Sevens 2024

After the first two of the three rounds in the second leg of the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens played at Mauritius on Saturday, July 6, it was clear that the best sides from last weekend’s first-leg tournament would not be easily removed from vying for top honors in the playoffs

The teams vying for playoff spots on Sunday that will meet in the third round matched today Saturday, July 6 are Madagascar vs Kenya (at 15:34 today), Uganda vs Burkina Faso (16;18), and South Africa who will face an improved Zimbabwe (16:40). The four semi-finalists of last weekend will go all out to show that they again deserve a place in the top eight for the quarters.

Importantly, the scores clocked in the various matches will also help to establish the pecking order for the play-offs.

Scorelines in the first session of play of the second leg of the competition on Saturday were lopsided in most instances, but that can be attributed to the improvement of the more favored sides in the competition.

The lesser sides in last weekend’s tournament had also shown some glimpses of improvement, but this was less noticeable. The quality of their player pools was inferior to sides such as Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya while Zimbabwe also showed glimpses that they could spring some surprises this weekend.

Round One

 Uganda, last weekend’s champion, played some impressive Sevens, albeit against lowly Tunisia, winning their match 36-0 on the back of five tries, three of which were converted.

  • Another plus from the first session was the refereeing that seemed more assured than last weekend.
  • Zimbabwe also looked more confident than last weekend and was good value for their 31-7 win against Mauritius, scoring five tries with superior possession and looking as if they could improve on their fifth-placed standing of last weekend.
  • Zambia showed glimpses of their potential but were outclassed by Kenya who scored four tries to one in their 26-7 win. In the second half, Kenya was kept to one converted try after a 19-7 lead.
  • Burkina Faso was comfortably ahead the break at 19-0 against Cote D’Ivoire but managed only two more unconverted tries in the second half and were also held by the Ivorians who also scored two tries and converted once for a 29-12 scoreline.
  • Madagascar, who lost in last week’s final to Uganda, were well held by Algeria in the first half of their match and led only 12-0 at halftime. The second half, however, brought another three converted tries to Algeria’s two tries, one converted, for a hard-fought but convincing of 33-12.

Scores in Round Two

In the second round on Saturday, last weekend’s top sides again impressed.

  • South Africa had an easy win against Mauritius, scoring seven tries in their 43-0 win.
  • Zimbabwe built on their first-round win with four tries to one in beating Nigeria 29-5 before Kenya overran Algeria 47-0.
    • Last week’s losing finalists Madagascar were not to be outdone and became the third team in the first four matches of the second round to reach a total of forty points in beating Zambia 40-5.
  • Burkina Faso were made to work hard by Tunisia, who held them to a 19-7 lead until right the end when Tunisia scored a converted try to make the final score 19-14.
  • Uganda’s match against Cote D’Ivoire saw a good win for the defending champions from last weekend, but they were made to work for the 29-14 win. The Ivorians were still within striking distance with four minutes to play.

Matches are available for free live stream and broadcast on the platforms below.

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