RUGBY Africa has announced a full programme of continental tournaments for the coming year, subject to change due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press release, Rugby Africa’s vice president Andrew Owor said alternative dates had been arranged in case of any disruptions.
“With the season cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, we look forward to our players returning to the field and advancing the sport and their athletic prowess. We understand that the ongoing pandemic may result in tournaments being postponed or cancelled at short notice, therefore dates are tentative, and we have also allocated ‘fall back’ dates to mitigate any disruptions or delays,” he said.
Rugby Africa will stage five competitions across the continent which will include the Rugby Africa Cup, the u20 Barthés Trophy, the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, Africa Women’s Sevens and Africa Men’s Sevens.
‘With the first round of competitions potentially kicking off in March, teams are already preparing, and by all accounts both unions and players are thrilled at the opportunity to participate in the game,’ Owor added.
The u20 Barthes Trophy kicks off proceedings in Nairobi, Kenya from 25 March to 4 April, where the winning country will qualify for the Junior World Trophy.
The defending champions Kenya, will start as the favourites on their home turf, while other upcoming nations like Senegal and Madagascar could also make an impact.
Namibia’s participation still has to be confirmed though, according to the Namibia Rugby Union’s CEO Theo Grunewald.
“We only received the information two days ago so we are now looking at the tournament, but must still confirm our participation,” he said, adding that the NRU would bring out a statement today.
Senior rugby gets underway in July, with the Rugby Africa Cup regional competitions, where four pools of three teams each will play a round-robin tournament at a single venue per pool.
Namibia will compete in a pool against Madagascar and the Ivory Coast, with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for the 2022 Africa Cup, which is the final qualifier for the 2023 World Cup.
Rugby Africa will also present a women’s tournament due to run at the same time as the Africa Cup.
“The women’s 15’s runs at the same time, with each host union hosting a women’s 15’s test match between host union and a visiting or neighbouring country,” the press release stated.
‘This year, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda and Tunisia are likely to emerge as the host teams, but the real prize goes to the winning teams, who can look forward to a fully revived Women’s 15s in 2022,’ added Maha Zaoui, Rugby Africa’s women’s rugby manager.
The November international window is earmarked as the fallback option for the men and women’s Africa Cups.
The Africa men and women 7’s World Cup pre-qualifiers will run through August and September in four regional tournaments, with men and women’s tournaments hosted in the same venue, on the same dates.
As a safety precaution, the entire months of October, November and December will remain open should tournaments be postponed and re-programmed due to the on-going pandemic.
Ïn collaboration with its member unions, Rugby Africa hopes to deliver a successful and safe 2021 competition season. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of our athletes, officials, and volunteers, we will work closely with our medical advisory committee, our unions, and local authorities to monitor the situation and take appropriate steps,” said Khaled Babbou, president of Rugby Africa.
“The underpinning principle is to give all Rugby Africa member unions a chance to participate in the qualification process of the Rugby World Cup and 7s World Cup,” he added.