The quarter-finals of the African Rugby Cup were played in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence on Friday July 1 and Saturday July 2. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya held their rank. With them, the Algerian Tom Thumb believes in his star. First assessment.
From our special correspondent in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence,
The Top 4 of African rugby – apart from South Africa – is known. The quarter-finals of the Rugby Africa Cup 2021-2022, a competition which takes place exceptionally in France for the final phase, have given their verdict. Under the sun of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, the eight nations involved have scrapped, and there are now only four contenders for the coronation, and therefore for direct qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
Self-confident Namibia
A regular at the World Cup with six consecutive participations (from 1999 to 2019), 24th nation in the world rankings of World Rugby – the best ranking in Africa after South Africa – and generally considered the best team on the continent after the Springboks, Namibia did not tremble for their entry into the running in this Final 8. Opposed to Burkina Faso, the Welwitschias proved to be unplayable. They signed the biggest score with a victory without appeal 71-5 and eleven tries scored.
Zimbabwe punishes Ivorians who are too feverish
Facing the ambitious Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe also shone. Les Sables showed their power and took advantage of the Elephants’ indiscipline – three yellow cards and a red card – to dominate the game and win 38-11. The Zimbabweans will therefore play the semi-final against Namibia on Wednesday July 6 in Aix-en-Provence. The Ivorians, they will have to settle for the classification meetings.
” We completely missed it “, lamented Alexandre Pilati at the microphone of RFI. ” We completely foiled “, added his teammate Bigger Bladi, who still wants” save the honor of the country by going for two victories in the two classification matches to follow.
Kenya at ease
After the Namibia-Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe-Côte d’Ivoire matches on July 1 in Marseille, the quarter-finals resumed on Saturday July 2 in Aix-en-Provence, starting with this meeting between Kenya and Uganda. Unbalanced, this match was also unbalanced on the ground. The Ugandans have never found the solution to stem the Kenyan waves. And logically, the Simbas won 42-7.
Algeria celebrates
The last quarter-final is the one that attracted the most people to the stands. In a beautiful atmosphere, Senegal, 45th nation in the world, and Algeria, 90th nation in the world, fought a great battle at the end of which the self-proclaimed Petit Poucet of this Africa Cup took it away. The Cubs got off to a great start with a penalty try after just two minutes of play. The red card received shortly after by Lamine Sylla for a dangerous tackle seriously undermined Senegalese ambitions. Despite a start before the break, Algeria clung on to keep the controls and finally increased their lead in the second half, to the sound of ” One, Two, Three, Long live Algeria! coming down from the stands.
” This is happiness “, confided to RFI Issam Hamel, sensitive to the support of the public but already concentrated, like his teammates, on the semi-final to come. ” We have three finals. We won one, two are missing “, he hammered.
PROGRAM FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 6
Marseille Delort Stadium
3 p.m. (local time): Uganda-Senegal (classification match)
6 p.m. (local time): Kenya-Algeria (semi-final)
Maurice David Stadium in Aix-en-Provence
6 p.m. (local time): Burkina Faso-Côte d’Ivoire (classification match)
9 p.m. (local time): Namibia-Zimbabwe (semi-final)