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Competitions 2016 – Rugby Africa competitions season is now over for the year 2015. One action packed year full of surprises and unforeseen development. One year during which Rugby Africa exceeded all expectations ! It wasn’t an easy task to organise more matches, more competitions and additional tournaments with a tight budget, but year after year the Confederation is raising the bar in the best interests of African rugby.

Last year, our competitions were all very successful ! Nevertheless there is always room for improvement and we heard some of your concerns and tried our best to come up with fair and practical responses for 2016. (The team and the cities in orange are hosts)

AFRICA CUP 1A :
Four teams, home or away matches – the winner will be declared African champion. The bottom team will be relegated to group B in 2017.

Saturday, July 2st : Uganda v Namibia
Saturday, July 9th : Zimbabwe v Kenya
Saturday, July 16th : Namibia v Kenya
Saturday, July 23rd : Zimbabwe v Uganda
Saturday, July 30th : Kenya v Uganda
Saturday, August 6th : Namibia v Zimbabwe

AFRICA CUP 1B :
Six teams in two pools of three, based on the 2015 tournament results. The winners of each pool will play a final match, the winner will be promoted to the group A in 2017. The team ranked last – following the number of points they marked – will be relegated to the group C in 2017.

12 to 19 June : Madagascar, Senegal and Zambia (Pool B)
in Antananarivo, Madagascar

26 June to 2 July : Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Botswana (Pool A)
in Tunis, Tunisia

AFRICA CUP 1C :
First round of the 2019 Rugby World Cup qualification process. The winner will be promoted to the Group B in 2017. Teams in the group B in 2017 will play the second round of the 2019 RWC qualification process.

5 to 11 June : Mauritius, Nigeria, Morocco and Cameroon (?)
Two semi finals, one play off match for the third place, one final in Casablanca, Morocco

AFRICA CUP 2 CENTER :
15 to 21 May : Burundi, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo
in Kigali, Rwanda

AFRICA CUP 2 WEST :
7s tournament
28 May : Niger, Mali, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana
in Lomé, Togo

U19 :
24 to 27 August : two groups of four teams
A : Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tunisia
(location to be confirmed)
B : Uganda, Senegal, Madagascar and Morocco
in Antananarivo, Madagascar

WOMEN’S SEVENS :
17 and 18 September : Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Tunisia and Senegal
in Harare, Zimbabwe

MEN’S SEVENS :
24 and 25 September : Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Mauritius and Botswana
in Nairobi, Kenya

The hosting venues were not randomly picked but decided after a thorough hosting bidding process. Rugby Africa received many applications to host the 2016 competitions and reviewed each of them before selecting the most appropriate locations.

Photo credit : Russel Sutter