The Africa section of

2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying The qualification process for the 2015 Rugby World Cup began during the pool stages of the 2011 tournament in New Zealand, during which the top three teams from each of the four pools were awarded automatic qualification for the 2015 event. A f ...

saw thirteen teams competing for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and one spot in the Repechage play-offs.

Format

The

Africa Cup The Rugby Africa Cup is a two-year men's rugby union tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on their World Rugby rankings, it is organised by Rugby Africa. The tournament was first held in 2000. It was renamed the Rugby Africa Cup i ...

, run by the

Confederation of African Rugby Rugby Africa, is the administrative body for rugby union within the continent of Africa under the authority of World Rugby, which is the world governing body of rugby union. , Rugby Africa has 37 member nations and runs several rugby tournaments ...

(CAR), was the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2015, with Divisions 1A, 1B and 1C involved in the process. The 2012 Divisions 1B and 1C acted as the qualification matches in Round 1, with the Division 1C winner being promoted to Division 1B for the second round in 2013, while the bottom placed team in Division 1B was relegated to 1C and eliminated from Rugby World Cup contention. 2013 saw Divisions 1A and 1B act as the qualification matches in Round 2. The top three teams of Division 1A remained in that same division for the final round in 2014, to be joined by the winner of Division 1B in 2013. The teams that did not win Division 1B or were relegated out of 1A were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualification. Namibia, the winner of Round 3, or Division 1A, in 2014 qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Africa 1, while the runner-up, Zimbabwe, entered the Repechage for a second chance to qualify.

Entrants

Thirteen teams competed for the 2015 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification. Shown in parentheses are the teams' world rankings prior to the first African qualification match on 4 July 2012. * (81) * (47) * (40) * (56) * (NR) * (27) * (91) * (21) * (52) * (34) * (43) * (74) * (32)

Qualified nations

* (Automatic qualifier) * (Africa 1)

Round 1

The first round consisted of nine matches between nine teams. The winner of the Africa Cup Division 1C (Round 1B), advanced to the second round and was promoted to Division 1B for 2013, while the top three teams in CAR Division 1B (Round 1A), also advanced into the second round.

Round 1A: 2012 Africa Cup Division 1B

The 2012 Africa Cup Division 1B took place in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Mahamasina Stadium Kianja Barea Mahamasina is a rugby union and football (multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose) stadium, also used for concerts and athletics, in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Usage It is used mostly for Rugby union, rugby and football (soccer), footbal ...

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

on 4 July and 8 July. The champion, Madagascar, was promoted up to Division 1A thus advancing to Round 2B. Namibia and Senegal remained in Division 1B for 2013, advancing to Round 2A. Morocco was eliminated from Rugby World Cup, by virtue of being relegated to Division 1C for 2013.

Round 1B: 2012 Africa Cup Division 1C

The 2012 Africa Cup Division 1C took place in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

UB Stadium UB Stadium is a stadium in Amherst, New York on the campus of the University at Buffalo. It is primarily used for football, soccer, and track and field events, and is the home field of the Buffalo Bulls. It opened on September 4, 1993, with a ga ...

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

from 22 July to 28 July. The champions, Botswana, were promoted up to Division 1B for 2013, thus advancing to Round 2A. Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Zambia and Nigeria were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Round 2

The second round consisted of eight matches featuring the top eight teams in Africa outside of South Africa. The top three teams of CAR Division 1A advanced to the third round, while the winner of CAR Division 1B was promoted to Division 1A thus advancing to the third round.

Round 2A: 2013 Africa Cup Division 1B

The 2013 Africa Cup Division 1B took place in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Stade Iba Mar Diop Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

on 11 June and 15 June. The champions, Namibia, were promoted to Division 1A to Round 3, while Botswana, Senegal and Tunisia were eliminated from Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Round 2B: 2013 Africa Cup Division 1A

The 2013 Africa Cup Division 1A took place in

on 10 July and 14 July. The top three teams, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Madagascar, remained in Division 1A for 2014, thus advancing to Round 3, while Uganda were eliminated from Rugby World Cup Qualifying.

Round 3: 2014 Africa Cup Division 1A

The third and final round consisted of 6 matches, featuring the top 4 ranked teams in Africa in a Round-robin format, and doubled as the 2014 Africa Cup Division 1A. The winner, Namibia, qualified for

Pool C Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

of the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Africa 1. The runner up, Zimbabwe, advanced to the

repechage playoff Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

against Russia. The 2014 Africa Cup Division 1A took place in

, between 28 June and 6 July.

References

External links

Rugby World Cup Africa qualification
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

2012 in African rugby union 2013 in African rugby union 2014 in African rugby union