CAPE TOWN, South Africa, August 21, 2018/APO Group/ — In the end, it was Namibia who won the Rugby Africa Gold Cup (RugbyAfrique.com) trophy and the right to join South Africa in Pool B at the next Rugby World Cup in 2019 in Japan. It is clear that from the start, the Namibian team dominated the competition and well deserved the title of African champion. The Kenyans, who put up a creditable performance in this final with a score of 53 to 28, will battle against Canada, Hong Kong and Germany in November in Marseille to try to win the last, highly coveted place in the World Cup.

The Rugby Africa Gold Cup was played in fifteen matches in six African countries, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Morocco – whose final ranking was in this order. “This intense competition pushes the teams to even greater performances; it’s impossible to participate, let alone win the Gold Cup without being exceptionally well prepared. We can no longer do without high performance programs if we want to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. This is the big challenge for Rugby Africa in the future,” Rugby Africa’s director of competitions, Guédel N’Diaye said.

“We are very proud of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup. It is a tournament that unites the whole of Africa around the values of rugby. We use the opportunity to organise youth tournaments, training sessions, and it is to the benefit of the entire rugby community. Our institutional and commercial partners have shown interest in it and the media are imparting information about it in Africa and beyond through our partnership with the APO group. Much more than a means to choose a qualifier to represent Africa in the Rugby World Cup, the Rugby Africa Gold Cup is a great way to popularise our sport and exemplify our values. To this end, Kwese Sports, our broadcasting partner, has been instrumental in the project and we are grateful. The dynamic demographics and talented athletes of Africa represent enormous potential and have a role to play on the global rugby scene,” Abdelaziz Bougja, president of Rugby Africa declared.

Fans are more and more likely to turn up to support their teams according to the reports of the match commissioners. In fact, a recent report from World Rugby indicates more than 31 million rugby fans in Africa. Rugby is therefore a booming sport on the African continent and the African association is already planning the next Gold Cup, which promises to be a great success again. The final of the Rugby Africa Silver Cup on October 20th in Zambia between Zambia and Algeria will determine which team will be promoted to the Gold Cup competition next year.