Twelve teams will battle it out for a place at the 2016 Olympic Games when they take part in this weekend’s Africa Regional Olympic qualifier in Johannesburg.
On 14 & 15 November, Johannesburg will host the 12 best African teams of Sevens rugby at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park.
Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, Zambia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Botswana, Nigeria and Mauritius will fight over 2 days of tournament to try to win the 1 and only golden ticket for Rio 2016!
The 3 other teams on the podium will have the opportunity to participate in the repechage, an international competition which will enable 1 single team to join the others.
Kenya
Top seeds Kenya go into this weekend’s African regional Olympic qualifier armed with a team that has plenty of experience of the highest level.
Captain Andrew Amonde is joined by Willy Ambaka, who last featured for the team during the 2012 / 2013 World Series, Kenya’s record try scorer Collins Injera, 8-year veteran Biko Adema and Dennis Ombachi who returns after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Head coach Benjamin Ayimba has also handed debuts to Frank Wanyama and Jeffrey Oluoch. Niggling injuries keep Humphrey Kayange and Bush Mwale out of the qualifiers while Oscar Ouma was not available for training.
Kenya are in Pool A with Madagascar, Mauritius and Senegal. Pool B features Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria and Uganda while Pool C comprises Tunisia, Morocco, Namibia and Botswana.
The Top 8 teams qualified from the African Sevens Championship held in Harare, Zimbabwe, last year, with 9th ranked Zambia taking South Africa’s place after they qualified automatically through their 2nd place finish on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2014 / 2015.
The final 4 qualifiers were decided by a regional qualifying tournament in the summer with Nigeria and Morocco clinching their place through the north region tournament and Mauritius and Botswana joining them from the southern section.
“This is really a tough test for us. It will not be an easy task. Everybody is going to come hard at Kenya, but we are well prepared,” said Ayimba.
“The tournament is a sprint as opposed to a marathon where everyone has a shot at the Olympics. We are fired up… the incentive is to qualify for the Olympics.”
Zimbabwe Cheetahs ready to pounce
With South Africa already confirmed for Rio 2016, Kenya’s biggest threat is expected to come from Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s squad go into the qualifier battle-hardened having experienced competitive game time domestically, in the Sevens summer series, and abroad.
The team participated in 2 tournaments in September, in Namibia where they finished as runners-up and in Kenya at the Safari Sevens where they took 4th place.
“Preparations have been going well thus far. We are getting there,” said head coach Daniel Hondo. “Everyone is looking forward to the Olympic qualifiers.”
Zimbabwe are missing newly-appointed captain Hilton Mudariki, who has been ruled out of contention after picking up a hamstring injury at the Safari Sevens.
His predecessor, experienced locally-based player Jacques Leitao will captain the Cheetahs in his absence.
The winner of the 12-team tournament will qualify for the Olympic Games while the 2nd, 3rd and 4th-placed teams will get 1 final shot at qualification through the 16-team global repechage tournament in June.
Men’s Africa Regional Olympic Qualifier Pools:
- Pool A: Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Mauritius
- Pool B: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria
- Pool C: Tunisia, Namibia, Morocco, Botswana
worldrugby & rugbyafrique
The Oceania qualifying tournament is held in Auckland also this weekend.
@ dWeePer:
Hi dWeePer thanks quite a bit of rugby on this weekend between these qualifying tournaments, Autumn Internationals and European Cup and Challenge games.
@ dWeePer:
Looks like Australia are well on their way, winning all 3 of their Pool A matches today. Their scores –
Aus 62/0 Nauru, Aus 46/7 Cook Islands, Aus 49/0 Tonga.
Samoa also very dominant on day one of Oceania qualifying winning all three of their games in Pool B by large margins
@ Bullscot:
49/0?
Hmmmm. now where have I seen that score before?
5 @ BrumbiesBoy:
Hi BrumbiesBoy uhhmmm no pass you tell me
Day 1 of the Africa tournament completed.
Pool A:Kenya and Madagascar go to quarter finals
Pool B:Zambia is eliminated
Pool C :Botswana eliminated
For Oceania the women qualifiers is also taking place, with Fiji in pole.
7 @ dWeePer:
Thanks dWeePer, looked earlier today and struggled to get some results. Were you there at the tournament today?
Come on all you folk near Kempton Park try go and support this event, nudge nudge Scrumdown and Gbs especially.
Today’s results:
KENYA 50 – 5 MAURITIUS
MADAGASCAR 33 – 17 SENEGAL
ZIMBABWE 31 – 12 NIGERIA
UGANDA 47 – 5 ZAMBIA
TUNISIA 24 – 7 BOTSWANA
NAMIBIA 24 – 21 MOROCCO
KENYA 27 – 0 SENEGAL
MADAGASCAR 27 – 29 MAURITIUS
ZIMBABWE 48 – 0 ZAMBIA
UGANDA 19 – 12 NIGERIA
TUNISIA 21 – 17 MOROCCO
NAMIBIA 33 – 0 BOTSWANA
KENYA 46 – 0 MADAGASCAR
SENEGAL 19 – 17 MAURITIUS
ZIMBABWE 43 – 0 UGANDA
ZAMBIA 14 – 19 NIGERIA
TUNISIA 10 – 45 NAMIBIA
MOROCCO 45 – 5 BOTSWANA
Tomorrow’s matches:
Bowl :
10h00 – Senegal v Zambia
10h22 – Mauritius v Botswana
Cup Quarter final :
10h44 – Kenya v Madagascar
11h09 – Uganda v Tunisia
11h34 – Namibia v Morocco
11h59 – Zimbabwe v Nigeria
Bowl :
12h44 – ? v ?
13h06 – ? v ?
Semi-final Plate :
13h28 – ? v ?
13h53 – ? v ?
Semi-finale Cup :
14h18 – ? v ?
14h43 – ? v ?
Bowl :
15h28 – ? v ?
15h50 – ? v ?
Ranking matches (7th-8th position) :
16h12 – ? v ?
Finale Plate :
16h37 – ? v ?
Ranking matches (3th-4th position) :
17h02 – ? v ?
Finale Cup :
17h27 – ? v ?
Namibia has been eliminated
Semi-finals:Kenya against Tunisia
Zimbabwe against Morocco
Australia won with Tonga (2nd) and Samoa to the repachage tournament
Fiji women team qualifies as well
@ dWeePer:
Thanks for the updates
Cup Final to decide who goes to the Olympics automatically: Kenya v Zimbabwe
3rd/4th place play off – Tunisia v Morocco
Plate Final – Namibia v Madagascar
7th/8th place play off – Uganda v Nigeria
Kenya men won the tournament so qualify for Rio
Was a close game in the final against Zimbabwe. Kenya 21/17 Zimbabwe was the final score but it was 7/12 in Zimbabwe’s favour at half time.
Morocco ended third, beating Tunisia in the 3rd/4th place play off – Morocco 19/12 Tunisia.
Namibia won the plate – Namibia 24/17 Madagascar
Result of 7th/8th place play off – Uganda 27/7 Nigeria
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