At the conclusion of the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens tournament at the University of Ghana in Accra, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda booked a place to compete at the next World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

Last season’s Challenger Series docked at Dubai, Paraguay before a split in Poland and Germany. A relegation and promotion tournament in Madrid, Spain saw China promoted as a core team and South Africa drop down to the second tier competition.

South Africa, Kenya and Uganda will lead the African challenge for promotion to the core status  when the dates for this season’s competition are announced.

Back to Accra, Ghana where 12 African teams assembled for this year’s tournament. Perhaps the highlight of the two-day tournament was a meeting between the various captains and Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo.

Government support

The commitment of the government to host the tournament at such a short notice after a change from Tunisia was the boost women’s rugby needed. A change of venue also saw the number of teams increased from eight to 12 to conform with the current format in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

It is a pity that organizers of the Commonwealth Games decided to drop rugby from their menu especially at a time when the shorter version of the game is on the rise.

In Accra, South Africa and Kenya, the two power houses in seven-a-side rugby faced a challenge from emerging countries such as Madagascar and Uganda who also reached the final four.

Class act

South Africa were a class act conceding no points on their way to the final against Kenya where they conceded their first points but held on to win.

The rest of the teams showed a lot of promise. Mauritius impressed and finished 10th.

Little has been mentioned about the support for teams from the local fans who for the event’s duration sang and danced. They were here to have fun and supported all teams sometimes at the coercion of supporters from different countries.

As expected, traveling took its toll on the participants who had to endure longer connections to arrive in Accra.

Talks of an equivalent of an Africa Sevens Circuit has been on the lips of rugby officials from Africa for a long time and this could come to fruition with the election of Rugby Africa’s president Herbert Mensah to the World Rugby Board at the recent elections in Dublin, Ireland.

Different perspective

Mensah has advocated for a different perspective in the way rugby is being run and prefers an all-inclusive approach. Such an approach would include more opportunities for affiliated Unions to fully participate if there is an equitable approach to the running of the game.

For example, Dennis Mwanja, the Kenya Lionesses coach said more competitions would help in bridging the gap between teams from other regions. Without going into details, the former Kenya Sevens player said teams from other regions had access to regular competitions compared to some of the teams from Africa.

More opportunity

At the moment, only the World Rugby Challenger Series offers an opportunity for teams from Africa to compete against teams from other regions.

Questions that abound after the two tournaments in Mauritius (for men) and Ghana (for women) is whether there are plans to have the two tournaments held at a common venue over three days as happens in most of the World Rugby Sevens Series events. 

How they finished in the last World Rugby Challenger Series

Women: China, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, Kenya, Uganda, Thailand, Czechia, Hong Kong China, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Mexico.

Men: Uruguay, Kenya, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong China, Uganda, Tonga, Japan, Georgia, Portugal, Papua New Guinea, Mexico.