Rugby Africa Men's Seven: 12 nations battle for Paris 2024 places
The Africa Men's Seven, the men's rugby qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympics, will be held in Zimbabwe.
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The Paris 2024 Olympics run from 26 July to 11 August, and the teams chasing a place in the final rugby sevens tournament all have their eyes on Harare. The Zimbabwean capital hosts the Rugby Africa Men's Seven, the last chance to secure qualification for the Olympic tournament. Three places are up for grabs, going directly to the pool winners, after matches played on 16 and 17 September. Twelve teams are competing: South Africa, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Rugby Afrique has made the pool draw, with South Africa, Madagascar, Tunisia and Côte d'Ivoire meeting in Pool A. Used to shining on the world circuit, the South Africans will be the favourites at this Africa Men's Seven. Behind them, the battle for 2nd place between Madagascar and Tunisia is wide open, with that spot giving access to the play-offs and a chance of still qualifying for the 2024 Olympics. In Pool B, Kenya start as favourites ahead of Zambia, Namibia and Nigeria.
Three or four places for Africa?
Read more: Africa Men's Seven: Algeria beat Nigeria to triumph
Pool C looks more open, with Uganda, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Zimbabwe. In the past Zimbabwe and Uganda were a step ahead of most of their rivals in the discipline, but Algeria are on the rise, as shown by their win in the pre-Olympic tournament and their qualification for this Africa Men's Seven at Nigeria's expense. That should make for tightly contested matches as sides try to snatch a place at the 2024 Olympics.
Each pool winner will qualify directly for the Olympic tournament, while the 2nd-placed teams will go through a play-off tournament. A 4th place could be added to those three guaranteed spots if South Africa end up qualifying via the World Rugby Seven Series. On the women's side, Rugby Afrique has not yet made the draw for the groups, but has confirmed that the qualifying tournament will take place on 14 and 15 October in Tunisia.
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