2011 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification

In the African Regional qualifying process, 14 of the 15 eligible IRB member nations took part (South Africa had already qualified from Rugby World Cup 2007).

The qualifying process began with playoffs in May, 2008. The 2008–09 Africa Cup doubled as the qualifying tournament, with the winner being Africa's direct qualifier. The runner-up of the tournament will be entered into the four-team World Cup playoff for the 20th 2011 Rugby World Cup finalist berth.

The Cup was decided first by four pools of three teams with the pool winners qualifying for the semi-finals.

Namibia swept Tunisia in a two-legged final, qualifying for Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, while Tunisia advanced to the Final Place Playoff.

Preliminary round: May 2008

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Two single-legged playoffs were used to cut the nations down from the 14 eligible nations to the 12 who would compete for the 2008–09 Africa Cup. Preliminary round teams were the lowest ranked teams in the north and south respectively. Nigeria and Swaziland were eliminated in this round.

Matches

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Cameroon   26 - 6   Nigeria 11 May 2008 Yaoundé, Cameroon
Botswana   25 - 7   Eswatini 17-May-2008 Gaborone, Botswana

Round 1: June / August 2008

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Pool winners qualified for the semi-finals. Pools were determined through world rankings.[1]

Bonus point system:

  • 4 points for a win
  • 2 for a draw
  • 0 for a loss
  • 1 point for scoring four tries in a game
  • 1 point for losing by seven points or less.

Pool A

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Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference TB LB Points
  Namibia 2 2 0 0 48 31 +17 1 0 9
  Senegal 1 0 0 1 10 13 -3 0 1 1
  Zimbabwe 1 0 0 1 21 35 -14 0 0 0

Matches

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Senegal   10 - 13   Namibia 14-June-2008 Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar
Namibia   35 - 21   Zimbabwe 02-Aug-2008 Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek
Zimbabwe     Senegal Cancelled Harare, Zimbabwe

Pool B

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Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference TB LB Points
  Ivory Coast 2 2 0 0 53 18 +35 1 0 9
  Morocco 2 1 0 1 38 39 -1 1 0 5
  Zambia 2 0 0 2 27 61 -34 0 0 0

Matches

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Zambia   18 - 29   Morocco 14-June-2008 Showgrounds, Lusaka
Ivory Coast   32 - 9   Zambia 12-July-2008 Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
Morocco   9 - 21   Ivory Coast 02-Aug-2008 COC Stadium, Casablanca

Pool C

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Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference TB LB Points
  Tunisia 2 2 0 0 60 25 +35 1 0 9
  Kenya 2 1 0 1 91 52 +39 1 0 5
  Cameroon 2 0 0 2 18 92 -74 0 1 1

Matches

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Cameroon   10 - 16   Tunisia 14-June-2008 Yaoundé, Cameroon
Kenya   76 - 8   Cameroon 12-July-2008 RFUEA Ground, Nairobi
Tunisia   44 - 15   Kenya 02-Aug-2008 Stade El Menzah, Tunis

Pool D

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Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference TB LB Points
  Uganda 2 2 0 0 59 32 +27 2 0 10
  Madagascar 2 1 0 1 67 47 +20 1 0 5
  Botswana 2 0 0 2 25 72 -47 0 0 0

Matches

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Botswana   10 - 27   Uganda 14-June-2008 Gaborone, Botswana
Madagascar   45 - 15   Botswana 12-July-2008 Stade Municipal de Mahamasina, Antananarivo
Uganda   32 - 22   Madagascar 02-Aug-2008 Kyodondo Rugby Club, Kampala

Round 2: semi-finals - 2009

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Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Ivory Coast   13 - 13   Namibia 14-June-2009 Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
Namibia   54 - 14   Ivory Coast 27-June-2009 Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek
Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Uganda   17 - 41   Tunisia 13-June-2009 Kyodondo Rugby Club, Kampala
Tunisia   38 - 13   Uganda 27-June-2009 Stade El Menzah, Tunis
  • Winners on aggregate progress to Round Three.

Round 3: qualification final

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Namibia and Tunisia competed for Africa's automatic place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals in New Zealand over two legs, with Namibia qualifying for their fourth consecutive world cup. Tunisia faced Romania, the third-placed team from Europe, in the semi-finals of the Play-off series.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date Venue
Tunisia   13 - 18   Namibia 14 Nov 2009 Stade El Menzah, Tunis
Namibia   22 - 10   Tunisia 28 Nov 2009 Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek

Namibia won the series 2–0, with an aggregate score of 40–23.

See also

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2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying

References

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