Contents

Rugby Africa

Administrative body for rugby union in Africa

Rugby Africa

Rugby Afrique
Logo introduced in 2018
Formation	1986 as CAR 2014 Rugby Africa
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Tunis
Membership	37 unions
President	Ghana Rugby Association Herbert Mensah
Vice President	URU Andrew Owor
Treasurer	FIR Dr Elvis Tano
Secretary	SARU Jurie Roux
Affiliations	World Rugby
Website	rugbyafrique.com

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. As of 2018^[update], Rugby Africa has 37 member nations and runs several rugby tournaments for national teams, including the Africa Cup which is the main 15-a-side competition for African national teams.

Rugby Africa was founded in 1986 as the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) to promote, develop, organise and administer the game of rugby in Africa. It was renamed Rugby Africa in December 2014.^[1]

The President of Rugby Africa is the Herbert Mensah from Ghana.

History[edit]

The Confederation of African Rugby (French: Confédération Africaine de Rugby) was officially launched in January 1986 in Tunis. The inaugural members at the meeting were Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Senegal, the Seychelles, Tanzania and Tunisia. A meeting was held in July 1992 in Casablanca with the view of integrating the SARFU into the confederation. South Africa had been denied entry until this time because of the government policy of apartheid (South African rugby had been governed by the mainly white South African Rugby Board and the mainly black South African Rugby Union). In March 1992 these were formally combined to form the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU). The Confederation now has 37 member nations.

African Rugby Charter[edit]

The African Rugby Charter was signed by the President of CAR, Abdelaziz Bougja, the then President of the South African Rugby Union (SARFU) Brian van Rooyen, in the presence of former South African president Nelson Mandela, and the South African Minister of Sport, Makhenkesi Stofile.

We, the undersigned, hereby confirm our commitment to realising the potential of African rugby...
THAT, on this day, the creation of the African Leopards, Rugby Union in Africa will develop its own heroes and heroines;
THAT, developing rugby nations throughout Africa will be assisted with adequate human and physical resources to develop their playing potential at all levels;
THAT, every African boy and girl may soon have the opportunity to play the sport of Rugby Football.

— Signed on this 23rd day of July, 2005 at Johannesburg, South Africa.^[2]

Members[edit]

World Rugby full members who are part of Rugby Africa:^[3][4]

Botswana (1994)

Burkina Faso (2020)

Burundi (2021)^[5]

Cameroon (1999)^{[note 1]}

Ghana (2004)^{[note 2]}

Ivory Coast (1988)

Egypt (2022)

Kenya (1990)

Madagascar (1998)

Mauritius (2009)

Morocco (1988)

Namibia (1990)

Nigeria (2001)

Rwanda (2004)^{[note 3]}

Senegal (1999)

South Africa (1949)

Eswatini (1998)

Tunisia (1988)

Uganda (1997)

Zambia (1995)

Zimbabwe (1987)

World Rugby associate members who are part of Rugby Africa:

Togo (2004)

Mali (2004)

World Rugby non-members who are part of Rugby Africa (full or affiliate member):

Central Africa

 Chad

 Congo

 DR Congo

 Gabon^[8]

 Guinea

 Lesotho^[8]

 Malawi

 Mozambique

 Niger

 Seychelles

 Sierra Leone

World Rugby suspended members who are part of Rugby Africa:

Non-member countries working with the governing body (Rugby Africa non-members too):

 Comoros

 Ethiopia

 Libya

Mayotte^{[note 5]}

Réunion^{[note 6]}

Defunct African National Rugby Union Teams

 Nyasaland (1930s) (now Malawi)

 Rhodesia (1910-1979) (now Zimbabwe)

 Zaire (1971-1997) (Now Democratic Republic of the Congo)

World Rugby Rankings[edit]

Men's World Rugby Rankings (as of 2 January 2023)[10] Africa* World Rugby +/- National Team Points 1 4  South Africa 88.97 2 21  Namibia 61.6 3 33  Zimbabwe 52.43 4 34  Kenya 51.79 5 38  Tunisia 48.55 6 43 1  Uganda 47.25 7 44 1  Madagascar 46.89 8 48 1  Morocco 46.33 9 49 1  Ivory Coast 46.24 10 56 1  Senegal 43.22 11 69  Zambia 38.83 12 70  Nigeria 38.37 13 73  Algeria 36.25 14 74  Botswana 36.21 15 86  Ghana 33.27 16 91  Burkina Faso 31.05 17 93  Mauritius 30.56 18 96  Rwanda 29.78 19 101  Burundi 26.16 20 102  Eswatini 26.04 21 104  Cameroon 23.12 *Local rankings based on World Rugby ranking points

Women's World Rugby Rankings (as of 2 January 2023)[11] Africa* World Rugby +/- National Team Points 1 13  South Africa 64.5 2 25  Kenya 45.26 3 27  Madagascar 44.89 4 28  Cameroon 43.45 5 33  Tunisia 40.53 6 35  Uganda 40.48 7 37  Zambia 39.95 8 39  Senegal 39.16 9 41  Ivory Coast 38.92 10 46  Zimbabwe 37.04 11 52  Burkina Faso 35.32 12 54  Botswana 33.3 13 57  Namibia 32.14 *Local rankings based on World Rugby ranking points

Competitions[edit]

Tournaments run by Rugby Africa include:^[12]

• Rugby Africa Cup
  • Rugby Africa Gold Cup
  • Rugby Africa Silver Cup
  • Rugby Africa Bronze Cup
• African Development Trophy

Men VII

• Africa Men's Sevens

• Rugby Africa Women's Cup

Women VII

• Africa Women's Sevens

• U20 Barthés Trophy

Development programs[edit]

The CAR formed agreements in 2014 which allowed member unions from Anglophone and Francophone nations in Africa to access training programs within the sports academies and administrative headquarters of the South African Rugby Union and French Rugby Federation, respectively. These agreements, designed to foster rugby development across the continent, were signed in January 2015, and followed earlier arrangements with the SARU and French club Castres Olympique which were made in 2006.^[13][14]

Leopards[edit]

The African Leopards are a representative team from Africa which aims to promote the sport throughout the whole of Africa. The Leopards played their first ever match in July 2005 at Ellis Park as a curtain raiser between Springboks and Australia.

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Rugbyafrique.com Rugby Africa official website
• Archived website, Confederation of African Rugby, archived from the original on 2014-10-07