The opening day of the Africa Cup rugby competition in Kampala, Uganda saw the hosts Uganda Cranes miss qualifying to the crucial next round after narrowly losing to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe won the opener 22-20. In the other matches, Algeria beat Ivory Coast 32-12, Namibia knocked out Burkina Faso 38-5 and Kenya Simbas saw off Senegal 38-17.

In the semi-finals on Wednesday, Namibia and Zimbabwe face off paving way for the duel between Kenya and Algeria.