Under the umbrella of Rugby Africa (http://www.RugbyAfrique.com/), and together with their partner Société Générale, the Fédération Tunisienne de Rugby (Tunisian rugby federation) hosts the Africa Women’s Sevens on the 12th and 13th October 2019 in the Mustapha Ben Jannet stadium in Monastir, Tunisia.
It is the second time Rugby Africa hosts Olympic qualifying events on the continent since Rugby Sevens debuted at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. Now all eyes are on the twelve of the best African teams as they are impatiently waiting to seize the opportunity to qualify directly for the next Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2020. The silver and bronze medalists will have another opportunity to qualify by competing in a global repêchage tournament to be held in June 2020. The first and second placed teams will be able to participate for the World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier tournament.
With the Olympics and the World Rugby Sevens Series just around the corner, many sides have been investing into their Sevens programme meaning there is a lot at stake for the teams and the qualifier tournament will showcase competitive matches. The participating teams are (in current African ranking order) Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Botswana, Zambia, Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa, and Ghana. South Africa withdrew from the 2018 edition, it therefore now ranks 11th out of the 12 teams. The Ghanaian team integrates the African championship for the first time and therefore ranks 12th.
It is to be noted that South Africa will only compete for a chance to qualify for the World Series qualifier event, due to the South African Sports Confederation & Olympic Committee’s internal rules not permitting them to qualify for the Olympic Games directly from the African Regional Qualifier tournament.
Rugby Africa President Khaled Babbou says, “We are very pleased and express our gratitude to the Fédération Tunisienne de Rugby (FTR) to host the Africa Women’s Sevens 2019 edition. FTR has undertaken all necessary steps to provide very good conditions for this competition and to deliver an excellent image of African women’s rugby. Africa aims for high level and international recognition, and I believe especially Women’s Sevens Rugby has a great potential to promote and reveal our talents in Africa and to get more players on the continent into rugby. I am convinced the women’s games will capture the public’s imagination and I wish all teams good luck in this qualifier event. I know that they have prepared very hard for it and hope that all teams can show their best form when they fight for their participation in one of the most prestigious sport events in the world.”
The participating teams are (in current African ranking order)
Participating teams
• Kenya • Uganda • Tunisia • Madagascar
• Zimbabwe • Senegal • Botswana • Zambia
• Morocco • Mauritius • South Africa • Ghana
– AFRICA WOMEN’S SEVENS 2019 – OLYMPIC QUALIFIER EVENT
- The winning team of the 2019 Africa Women’s Sevens Tournament will qualify directly for the 2020
Tokyo Olympic Games. - The two teams in second and third (2 and 3) place at the 2019 Africa Women’s Sevens Tournament
will qualify for the Olympic repêchage tournament to be held in June 2020. A total of 12 teams will
be invited to this tournament and the top two teams will qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. - Teams 1 and 2 from the 2019 Africa Women’s Sevens Tournament will qualify for the World Rugby
Sevens Series qualifier tournament.
Groups
Teams are divided into three pools of four teams each :
- POOL A –
- Kenya
- Senegal
- Botswana
- Ghana
POOL B –
- Uganda
- Zimbabwe
- Zambia
- South Africa
- POOL C –
- Tunisia
- Madagascar
- Morocco
- Mauritius
Schedule
DAY ONE
Game Pool Fixtures
-
- 1 C Madagascar v Morocco
- 2 C Tunisia v Maurice
- 3 B Zimbabwe v Zambia
- 4 B Uganda v South Africa
- 5 A Senegal v Botswana
- 6 A Kenya v Ghana
- 7 C Madagascar v Maurice
- 8 C Tunisia v Morocco
- 9 B Zimbabwe v South Africa
- 10 B Uganda v Zambia
- 11 A Senegal v Ghana
- 12 A Kenya v Botswana
- 13 C Morocco v Maurice
- 14 C Tunisia v Madagascar
- 15 B Zambia v South Africa
- 16 B Uganda v Zimbabwe
- 17 A Botswana v Ghana
- 18 A Kenya v Senegal
– AFRICA WOMEN’S SEVENS 2019 – OLYMPIC QUALIFIER EVENT
- At the end of the group matches on Day 1, teams will be ranked from 1st to 4th in each pool and the tournament will continue on Day 2 as follows :
- Eight teams, namely: the first two of each group (A, B, C) and the two best thirds qualify for the ¼ finals (Cup);
- The third non-qualified for the ¼ finals and the three teams ranked fourth in their respective pools continue the tournament for the overall standings from 9 to 12.
DAY TWO
-
- 19 Cup QF1 1st Pool B v Best 3rd
- 20 Cup QF 2 1st Pool C v 2nd Pool A
- 21 Cup QF 3 2nd Pool B v 2nd Pool C
- 22 Cup QF 4 1st Pool A v 2nd best 3rd
- 23 CT SF1 3rd best 3rd v 3rd best 4th
- 24 CT SF2 Best 4th v 2nd best 4th
- 25 5th Place SF1 Loser QF1 v Loser QF2
- 26 5th Place SF2 Loser QF3 v Loser QF4
- 27 Cup SF 1 Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
- 28 Cup SF 2 Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
- 29 11th Place Play-off Loser CT SF1 v Loser CT SF 2
- 30 Challenge Trophy Final Winner CT SF1 v Winner CT SF 2
- 31 7th Place Play-off Loser 5th Place SF1 v Loser 5th Place SF2
- 32 5th Place Play-off Winner 5th Place SF1 v Winner of 5th place SF2
- 33 Bronze Medal Match Loser Cup SF1 v Loser Cup SF2
- 34 Cup Final Winner Cup SF1 v Winner Cup SF2
