Kenya Lionesses set for Rugby World Cup qualifier in South Africa

Rugby Africa has announced the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers will be held from August 9, to 17 2019 at the Bosman Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kenya Lionesses will join hosts South Africa, Uganda and Madagascar for a ticket to play in New Zealand come 2021.

Considering there isn’t yet an established African ranking for women’s fifteen-a-side rugby, the four fifteens teams were chosen on the basis of the level and frequency of play of the female players.

Each team will play three matches on three different days and a points classification will be established. The winner of the tournament will qualify directly to the World Cup whilst the second best team will play a match against a selected team from South America and join the global repechage tournament if victorious.

For Katie Sadleir, General Manager for Women’s Rugby at World Rugby, this new event represents an opportunity not to be missed:

“The development of women in rugby is the greatest opportunity for our sport over the next decade. This is an essential part of World Rugby’s vision of a ‘A sport for all, true to its values’ and is aligned with its mission to grow the global family … Women’s rugby is experiencing unprecedented growth and participation levels are at an all-time high. Women’s rugby in Africa is leading the way in terms of the number of women players registered worldwide ”

Fixtures:
Bosman stadium, Brakpan, Johannesburg, South Africa

9 August:
Madagascar vs Kenya
South Africa vs Uganda

13 August
Kenya vs Uganda
Madagascar vs South Africa

17 August
Madagascar vs Uganda
South Africa vs Kenya

-Report by APO Group on behalf of Rugby Africa.