Namibia did not qualify

Rudi Bowe

At the end of a fiercely contested competition between the top twelve African teams, the Namibian 7’s Rugby team ended ninth at the Rugby Sevens 2018 Africa Championship and thus did not qualifying for three major international events and did not confirm their chances of Olympic qualification.

 

The team failed to make an impression at the 2018 Rugby Africa tournament as they lost their group games to Zambia 28-7 and Madagascar 26-19 on the first day of the competition. They however beat Botswana 14-0 and won the play-off game for the ninth position 24-14 against Ghana.

Zimbabwe are the Rugby Sevens 2018 Champions as as they beat the hot favourites Kenya 17-5. Zimbabwe and Uganda who ended third will represent Africa with Kenay and South Africa at the Hong Kong Sevens in April next year.

In 2019, the African Olympic qualifications will be the major challenge of the rugby season for all teams. At the end of the 2018 season, Guédel N’Diaye, Rugby Africa’s competitions director, said: “With the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup, this season has been particularly full and dramatic for Rugby Africa. The focus, of course, has been on the Rugby Africa Gold Cup and its fifteen intensely competitive matches.

We have enjoyed wonderful rugby from very professional teams and in particular, we have seen improvements in quality at all levels on the field by the players, by the coaches and by the match officials. Next year, Rugby Africa plans to continue to progress at the same pace with a focus on the men’s and women’s Sevens with an eye on Olympic qualifications.”

At the meeting of the Executive Committee in Sousse, Tunisia, the representatives from Rugby Africa came together to analyze the progress made in 2018, to decide on the priorities for 2019, and to identify strategies to meet the ongoing challenges of competitions, female participation, grassroots development and training of coaches.

The president of Rugby Africa, Abdelaziz Bougja, outlined his thoughts: “The competitions and events calendar for 2019 will be revealed before the end of the year. We are considering new formats, better adapted to the reality of our continent but which will also encourage our teams to achieve better performances. I would like to thank our partners, Kwesé Sports and the African Press Organisation who participated in these discussions and who support us in this process.

The Africa Men’s Sevens tournament has just concluded on a high note in Tunisia. Every year, the Tunisian federation organises high quality events that are a source of pride for African rugby and they are to be congratulated.”

The ranking at the end of the Africa Men’s Sevens 2018 tournament is as follows:

1 Zimbabwe: African Champions

2 Kenya

3 Uganda

4 Madagascar

5 Zambia

6 Tunisia

7 Senegal

8 Morocco

9 Namibia

10 Ghana

11 Botswana

12 Mauritius