Qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for Africa Rugby will begin in June 2016, where across 3 years, 14 teams will compete for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament, and one spot in the Repechage tournament.
Contents
Format
The Africa Cup, controlled by Rugby Africa (CAR), will be the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2019.
The first qualifying round will be the 2016 1B and 1C Divisions. The winner of Division 1C will be promoted to 1B and the second round of qualifying, while the team placed bottom in 1B will be relegated and eliminated from Rugby World Cup contention. Similarly, 2017 will see Divisions 1A and 1B act as Round 2. The winner of Division 1B will advance to the Africa repechage play off against the bottom placed side from Division 1A in 2018, with the winner of Division 1A qualifying for the World Cup. The winner of the play-off will enter the Repechage tournament.
Entrants
Fourteen teams will compete for the 2019 Rugby World Cup – Africa qualification. Shown in parentheses are the teams world rankings prior to the first African qualification match on 5 June 2016 (currently set as of 12 May 2016).
Round 1
The first round will consist of ten matches between 10 teams. The winner of the Africa Cup Division 1C will advance to the second round and will be promoted to division 1B for 2017, while the top five teams in division 1B will also advance into the second round.
Round 1A: 2016 Africa Cup Division 1B
Africa Cup Division 1B was contested by six teams, in a two-group round-robin tournament. Pool 1 was held in Monastir, Tunisia, while Pool 2 was held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The team with the worst record was relegated to Division 1C in 2017, and thus eliminated from qualification.
Final
The two pool winners contested the final. Both teams remain in qualifying, with the winners advancing to the 2017 Division 1A and the losers remaining in Division 1B.
Round 1B: 2016 Africa Cup Division 1C
Africa Cup Division 1C was contested by three teams in a round-robin tournament. Cameroon were meant to compete but withdrew from the tournament after it was rescheduled for a date. The tournament was held in Casablanca, Morocco.
Round 2
The second round will see six teams in the Gold Cup compete for four seeds in the third round in 2018, and will see four teams in the Silver Cup compete for a single place in the African Repechage play-off.
Round 3: 2018 Africa Gold Cup
Teams and fixtures to be decided.