Africa Rugby 7s Olympic Qualifier: Day One

The Africa Olympic Qualifier is being held in Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, South Africa on November 14th and 15th. The winner of the tournament will join South Africa in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016. The other semi-finalists will have one last opportunity in June 2016 in a World Rugby Repechage Tournament consisting of sixteen teams.

Twelve teams are competing to win the Africa 7s and join Brazil, Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand, Great Britain, Argentina, United States, France and Japan at the Olympics. The Oceania Rugby 7s winner, likely either Australia or Samoa, will also join them. The last remaining spot will be for the World Rugby 7s Repechage Tournament winner.

While Kenya enters the tournament as the favorite, Zimbabwe, Namibia and other hope to challenge for this spot. The other teams are Uganda, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Madagascar, Senegal, Mauritius, Botswana and Zambia.

While winning the tournament guarantees going to the Olympics, the other three Semi-Finalists will enter the Repechage in June in a winner take all tournament for the last Olympic spot.

Teams that have already qualified for the Repechage include Uruguay, Chile, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Sri Lanka.

Two other teams will join this group from Oceania. They will be the second and third place teams from the Oceania 7s: Australia, Samoa, Cook Islands or Papua New Guinea.

1 Kenya 2 Zimbabwe 3 Namibia 4 Uganda 5 Tunisia 6 Morocco 7 Nigeria 8 Madagascar 9 Senegal 10 Mauritius 11 Botswana 12 Zambia