The finals of the 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens Tournament are set to take place tomorrow, Sunday, November 10 in Accra, Ghana. These crucial matches will determine the three teams that will secure qualification for the highly anticipated 2025 Challenger Series. 

ACCRA, Ghana– Everything has gone according to plan thus far for the heavyweights of the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens, the top side in each of the three pools easing into the quarter-finals of the competition with a 100 percent record. 

Uganda, Kenya and South Africa finished the first day with a hat-trick of wins each to position themselves as front-runners for the three 2025 Challenger Series berths up for grabs.  

To underline their supremacy, the dominant sides all put some daylight between themselves and their nearest rivals, who they outmuscled in the last set of group matches to wrap up day one. 

Lydia Namabiro, who is having a dream tournament, was the star in Uganda’s 31-7 victory over Zambia as the Lady Cranes topped Pool C. Grace Auma went over for the Ugandans’ two other tries while for Zambia Mary Lyamba scored a superb 50-metre solo try. In the other third-round match of the pool, Côte d’Ivoire defeated Senegal 22-10 in a West African contest of bottom-placed teams. 

To complete Pool B, Kenya had to dig deep towards the end to dismiss a plucky Madagascar side which had the nerve of taking a 12-0 lead. Kenya eventually showed their true quality with well-worked tries from Judith Auma, Sharon Auma, Stellah Wafula and Grace Okulu. Ghana beat Mauritius 27-10 to at least bring some cheer to the home crowd after losing their first two games. 

In finishing Pool A, South Africa kept the juggernaut rolling by thumping second-place Tunisia 40-0 to further stake claim as the tournament’s best team by a country mile.  

The elegant Ayanda Malinga, making things look ridiculously easy once again, grabbed a hat-trick in stylish fashion. Nadine Roos, another outstanding player in the Lady Blitzboks line-up, scored once as did Maria Tshiremba. 

In the Pool A basement battle, Zimbabwe looked a totally different side in their structure and execution, trouncing Burkina Faso 37-0 having earlier lost meekly to Tunisia and South Africa. The Burkinabe were put to the sword by five scintillating tries from the lively Rufaro Tagarira. 

Sunday now marks the business end of this historic tournament, the first to be hosted by a West African country.  

Will the seemingly invincible defending champions South Africa defend their title, or can someone turn up inspired to knock them off their perch? Will there be a surprise package to upset any of the unbeaten three for a place in the 2025 Challenger Series? 

Well, let’s wait and see. For now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

The small matter of the quarter-finals. Kenya clash with Ghana in the first one, determined not to be so charitable to the good hosts. 

The second quarter-final between Uganda and Tunisia then follows, the in-form East Africans coming into this one tails up. 

Madagascar and Zambia in the third looks like an evenly-posed contest, given how both teams have played with a real sense of purpose in their quest to be among the top three of the tournament come end of Sunday. 

South Africa should be untroubled in the last quarter-final against Senegal, who sailed through courtesy of two slots reserved for two of the best-placed third finishers in the pool stage. 

The weaker team of the group phase – Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Mauritius and Côte d’Ivoire – drop down to play-offs. 

The finals of the 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens Tournament are set to take place tomorrow, Sunday, November 10. These crucial matches will determine the three teams that will secure qualification for the highly anticipated 2025 Challenger Series, World Rugby International Competition 

Organized by Rugby Africa (www.rugbyafrique.com), the continental governing body of Rugby across Africa, in partnership with the Government of Ghana, the 2024 tournament will bring together 12 national women’s teams at full strength, featuring nations such 2023 reigning champions South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Ghana, Mauritius, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal and Cote d’ Ivoire. 

The 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens  tournament is accessible to the public with free admission. All 34 matches are available for streaming on Supersport OTT Channel 950. In addition, matches are available for free streaming on Rugby Pass TV, Rugby Africa’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.  

  

Final Match Day: Sunday 10 November 2024 (Local Ghana Time) (GMT) 

• Game 19: Kenya vs Ghana (09:00) 

• Game 20: Uganda vs Tunisia (09:22) 

• Game 21: Madagascar vs Zambia (09:44) 

• Game 22: South Africa vs Senegal (10:06) 

• Game 23: Zimbabwe vs Burkina Faso (10:28) 

• Game 24: Cote D’Ivoire vs Mauritius (10:50) 

• Game 25: 5th Place SF1 TBD (12:07) 

• Game 26: 5th Place SF2 TBD (12:29) 

• Game 27: Cup SF1 TBD (12:51) 

• Game 28: Cup SF2 TBD(13:13) 

• Game 29: 11th Place Final TBD (13:35) 

• Game 30: 9th Place Final TBD(13:57) 

• Game 31: 7th Place Final TBD (14:59) 

• Game 32: 5th Place Final TBD (15:24) 

• Game 33: Bronze TBD (15:53) 

• Game 34: Gold TBD (16:32) 

Streaming 

SuperSport: OTT 950 

Rugby Pass TV: https://rugbypass.tv/home 

Rugby Africa Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RugbyAfrique 

Rugby Africa YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RugbyAfrique 

Pool A: South Africa, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso  

Pool B: Kenya, Madagascar, Ghana, Mauritius 

Pool C: Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Côte D’Ivoire 

Written by Enock Muchinjo 

Media Contact:  

Nicole Vervelde  

Communications Advisor   

nicole.vervelde@rugbyafrique.com  

 About Rugby Africa:  

Rugby Africa (www.RugbyAfrique.com) is the governing body of rugby in Africa and one of the regional associations under World Rugby. It unites all African countries that play rugby union, rugby sevens, and women’s rugby. Rugby Africa organizes various competitions,  including the qualifying tournaments for the Rugby World Cup and the Africa Sevens, a qualifying competition for the Olympic Games. With 39 member unions, Rugby Africa is dedicated to promoting and developing rugby across the continent. World Rugby highlighted Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia as three of the six emerging nations experiencing strong growth in rugby.