South Africa Crowned Champions of Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens

South Africa won the 2019 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens tournament, beating Kenya 15-14 in the final match on Sunday in Tunisia.

South Africa and Kenya are both now entitled to participate in a qualification tournament for the World Rugby Sevens Series.

The day started at 09:30 with South Africa beating Morocco 42-00.

South Africa next came out on top against Madagascar 29-00 in the semi-final game while host Tunisia was shown the way out by Kenya after a 00-19 loss.  Madagascar went on to claim the third place after beating Tunisia 05-00.

The final clash between South Africa and Kenya resulted in a victory for the South Africans by a small gap. The final result was 15-14.

Paul Delport (Head Coach, South Africa) said: “I’m very proud of our ladies. In the beginning, we struggled to find our rhythm, but (on Sunday) they stepped up.

“Kudos to Kenya, they played really well, at times, I thought we kept them in the game, but I guess that’s the game of sevens. People want to see an entertaining match and both teams delivered that.

“The tournament was fantastic, this is our first time in Tunisia, it’s a wonderful place and the people are very friendly. The organisation was very well put together so we were really happy to be here.”

Khaled Babbou (President, Rugby Africa) said: “I was very happy with the tournament and the finals… I ask all teams to prepare well, because we have seen many surprises in this tournament. Kenya for example, lost to South Africa by a very small margin. I hope that in the future, things will improve on every level, and I am confident they will.”

Final ranking of Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens 2019:

1. South Africa
2. Kenya
3. Madagascar
4. Tunisia
5. Uganda
6. Senegal
7. Morocco
8. Zimbabwe
9. Ghana
10. Zambia
11. Botswana
12. Mauritius