South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda qualify to the 2025 Challenger Series following the action-packed 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens tournament in Accra, Ghana.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa– South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda were the top three nations at the 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens competition with South Africa emerging as champions to retain their title.
12-time winners South Africa have won every Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens competition that they participated in since 2006.
It wasn’t any different last week at the University of Ghana Stadium, beating Kenya 19-10 in a tightly contested final in Accra, Ghana on Sunday, November 10.
Only Kenya in 2018 and Tunisia in 2012 have ever interrupted South Africa’s dominance.
At the weekend in Accra, East African neighbors Kenya and Uganda join South Africa – as the top three finishers in Accra – to qualify for the 2025 Challenger Sevens Series, a global tournament organized by World Rugby.
The Lady Blitzboks went undefeated and didn’t concede a point until the final.
It was only when Kenya’s Stellah Wafula opened the scoring for Kenya with a well-worked try that the South African had conceded in this competition.
Uganda held off gusty Madagascar for a 17-5 win in the third-place playoff to secure the third remaining qualification place for the Challenger Series.
It was exciting running rugby, full of technical ability, exhibited across the two days by the 12 nations.
It will get better going forward, with more nations showing heartening willingness to invest in the women’s game by exposing them to top-class coaching, improved training facilities and an increase of test matches.
The 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens tournament organised by Rugby Africa (www.rugbyafrique.com), the continental governing body of Rugby across Africa, in partnership with the Government of Ghana, brings together 12 national women’s teams at full strength, featuring nations such as current champions South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Ghana, Mauritius, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal and Cote d’ Ivoire from Saturday, November 9 to Sunday, November 10.
The 2024 Africa Women Sevens Rankings:
- South Africa
2. Kenya
3. Uganda
4. Madagascar
5. Tunisia
6. Zambia
7. Ghana
8. Senegal
9.Zimbabwe
10. Mauritius
11.Cote d’Ivoire
12. Burkina Faso
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.
