The Rugby Africa Cup is a two-year men's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on their World Rugby rankings, it is organised by

Rugby Africa 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 ...

. The tournament was first held in 2000. It was renamed the Rugby Africa Cup in November 2019, it was previously called the Africa Cup since 2006, the CAR Top 9 and CAR Top 10. Due to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

being far stronger than any other African nation, South African teams have only competed five times, and won the competition three times. The winning South African teams on these occasions were the under 23 or amateur players (in 2005, 2006 and 2007).

History

The African Cup of Rugby Union took place for the first time in 2000, with five teams taking part in the event,

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and the hosts

, the winner of the competition. In 2004, a second division called CAR Development Trophy and now named now African Development Trophy was formed, reserved for U19 national teams. In 2006, the Africa Cup was coupled with the

Rugby World Cup qualification Rugby World Cup qualification is a process that determines which nations will compete at the Rugby World Cup, a men's rugby union competition. Unlike previous tournaments (where eight teams, the quarter-finalists from the preceding World Cup, qua ...

, the winner qualified for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

. In 2011, a Division 1A was created and in 2014, the division took place as a four-team championship. The winner of the 2022 Africa Gold Cup will qualify for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...

and the runner-up will qualify for its final qualification tournament in November 2022.

Structure

The tournament was revamped in November 2019, this time the top 16 nations, based on their World Rugby rankings prior to the competition, will compete over a two-year period. According to their website

explained the tournament as follows:

The first stage consists of a qualifying round: the teams ranked 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th will oppose the teams ranked 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th, respectively, in a single match at home. The winner of each of these four matches will progress to the group phase. In this second stage, the 12 teams are divided into 4 pools; inside each pool the 3 teams play against each other in a home or away game. The winner of each group will progress to the final tournament of the RAC. The top four teams from Africa will meet in one venue for the final stage of the RAC, which will include two semi-finals, a play-off for third place and, ultimately, the final to decide who will be the African champions.

The 2019–20 Rugby Africa Cup was the first tournament after the restructuring, but was cancelled in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The 2021–22 Rugby Africa Cup will double as a 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifier for Africa. In addition to the main fifteens tournaments, an Under-20 competition featuring eight teams was held in April and a rugby sevens tournament involving twelve teams was held in November. A women's rugby sevens tournament is also to be scheduled.

Summary

Below is a list of previous tournaments and final results: : : : : :

Overall

The overall record of the teams are as follows: :

* ''hosts'' :

** ''home/away''

Rugby Africa Gold Cup perpetual trophy

The Rugby Africa Gold Cup is the perpetual

trophy A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...

awarded to the winner of the Africa Cup (Africa Gold Cup), an annual

tournament involving

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 ...

's top six national 15-man teams (excluding South Africa), organised by World Rugby's African association,

, since 2000. The Rugby Africa Gold Cup perpetual trophy – a

qualifier – has been officially unveiled during the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Congress in Brussels on May 8, 2018, in the presence of

Abdelaziz Bougja Bougja Abdelaziz is the former President of World Rugby' African association, Rugby Africa (2002-2019), the administrative body for rugby union in Africa. He is Vice-president of the French Association of Travel Management (french: Association F ...

, President of Rugby Africa,

Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (born November 3, 1975) is a Franco-Gabonese self-made entrepreneur, and angel investor. A former journalist, he is the founder and chairman of APO Group. Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard is a Senior Advisory Board member of The ...

, Founder of APO Group and main official partner of Rugby Africa,

Gianni Merlo Giovanni "Gianni" Merlo (born 16 April 1947) is an Italian sports journalist, reporter at La Gazzetta dello Sport and a president of International Sports Press Association, AIPS talian Honor * IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the Int ...

, President of the , and Mitchell Obi, President of AIPS Africa. It has been presented to the winner of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup for the first time in August 2018. Prior to this date, each winner of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup received a trophy. The back of the trophy is engraved with the text "''Presented by

, Founder of APO Group;

, President of Rugby Africa''". Handmade by Swatkins, Great Britain's leading Trophy, Award and Silverware manufacturer since 1898, the Rugby Africa Gold Cup is a Gold Plated Perpetual Trophy Cup. Standing at a height of and weighing , it features a smooth Georgian-bodied design, complete with patterned handles, a stepped lid that is supplied complete with a circular solid African

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

base. The Trophy has been engraved with the text 'Rugby Africa Gold Cup' and has the shape of

in pride of place on the main body. To complete, on the gold plated plinth band this holds the names of the winners. It's estimated there is enough space for at least 70 winning teams' names to be engraved on the base of the perpetual trophy, which would allow it to be used until at least the year 2080.

Lower Level Championships

Second level

Third level

Fourth level

References

External links

Official site
{{African Championships 2000 establishments in Africa Rugby union competitions in Africa for national teams Recurring sporting events established in 2000