Sables to play Netherlands in high profile Test match

ZIMBABWE’S preparations for the Rugby World Cup qualifiers to be played in France in July have received a massive lift following the confirmation of a high-profile Test match against the Netherlands next month.

The national rugby side is currently participating in the Currie Cup First Division in South Africa, where they have been making some steady progress ahead of their Rugby World Cup qualifying campaign.

And in an effort to ensure the team is adequately prepared, the Zimbabwe Rugby Union have secured the international match against the Netherlands which is expected to give the technical team an opportunity to test their preparedness for the qualifiers.

Hollands’s rugby team, who are popularly known as “The Oranges” are ranked number 26 on the World Rugby rankings, seven places ahead of the number 34-ranked Sables.

The match will be played at the National Rugby Centre Amsterdam in the Dutch capital on June 25, exactly a week before Zimbabwe begin their Rugby Africa Cup 2022 campaign in France.

Zimbabwe will face Cote d’Ivoire at the Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence, on July 2 in the quarter-finals of this year’s Rugby Africa Cup, which will also serve as the final round of the Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifying for African countries.

The continental tournament will be held in France from July 1 to 10, 2022.

The competition will be hosted at Aix-en-Stade Provence’s Maurice-David and Marseille’s Stade Pierre-Delort, which hosted the RWC 2019 Final Qualification Tournament.

The Rugby Africa Cup pool stage was contested in July 2021 and determined the eight teams that will compete in the quarter-finals in France. Namibia, who are bidding to reach a seventh successive Rugby World Cup, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe qualified for the quarter-finals as pool winners. They were joined in the last eight by pool runners-up Burkina Faso, Algeria, Kenya Simbas and Cote d’Ivoire.

Burkina Faso, ranked 91st in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings will face Namibia on July 1, 2022, in the first quarter-final match set for Stade Pierre-Delort in Marseille.

Senegal will face Algeria in the second quarter-final at the same venue on July 1.

Kenya will take on Uganda on July 2 at Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence.

The Zimbabwe Sables, who are seeking to qualify for their first Rugby World Cup since 1991, will also face Cote d’Ivoire Coast on July 2 at the same venue. The victor of the eight-team knockout competition will represent Africa in the RWC 2023 in France 14 months later.

Whoever finishes as runners-up following the much-anticipated Rugby Africa Cup 2022 final on 10 July will still have a chance of qualifying for RWC 2023 through the Final Qualification Tournament.

Rugby Africa Cup quarter-final

dates and venues

1 July 2022: Namibia vs Burkina Faso – Stade Pierre-Delort in Marseille, Senegal vs Algeria – Stade Pierre-Delort in Marseille

2 July 2022: Uganda vs Kenya – Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence, Zimbabwe Sables vs Ivory Coast- Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence.

Rugby Africa Cup Semis

6 July 2022: Namibia-Burkina Faso vs Senegal-Algeria -Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence.

Uganda -Kenya vs Zimbabwe-Cote d’Ivoire – Stade Pierre-Delort in Marseille

Ranking semis

Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence.

Stade Pierre-Delort in Marseille

Final – 10 July 2022: Winner 1 vs winner 2 -Stade Maurice-David in Aix-en-Provence.

Bronze: Loser 1 vs lose 2