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THE line-up for Rugby World Cup 2023 is not far from being complete with teams competing for three of the final four tickets throughout July.
On July 10, the Rugby Africa Cup comes to a conclusion and the winner of the region’s elite competition will go to France as Africa 1, taking their place in Pool A alongside three-time champions New Zealand, hosts France, Italy and Uruguay.
The Americas 2 slot in Pool D will also be decided over two weekends in July as Chile and the USA compete for the right to face England, Japan, Argentina and the Pacific qualifier, Samoa.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Korea are both bidding to qualify for a Rugby World Cup for the first time and join Japan in competing on the game’s grandest stage. But the winner of their play-off on July 9 will have to also beat Tonga a fortnight later to make it to France 2023 as Asia/Pacific 1.
The South of France is the setting for the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 which is run on a straight knock-out basis this year.
Not long after Marseille hosted an epic Champions Cup Final between La Rochelle and Leinster, top-level rugby returns to the port city with two of the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 quarter-finals to be played there, at Stade Pierre-Delort, tomorrow.
For the first time in men’s Test rugby, pre-tournament favourites and six-time Rugby World Cup participants Namibia take on Burkina Faso, while the other tie in the top half of the draw sees the Sables of Zimbabwe up against Cote d’Ivoire. Both teams have previously competed on the Rugby World Cup stage but not in the professional era.
The following day, 30 kilometres away in Aix-en-Provence, Senegal play Algeria and Uganda renew their East African rivalry with Kenya as Stade Maurice David makes its debut as a test arena. None of the four teams on this side of the draw have ever appeared at a Rugby World Cup.
On July 6, the two winners in Marseille will face each other in the semi-finals, but this time in Aix-en-Provence, while the winners of the other two quarter-finals will switch to Marseille.
Stade Maurice David will host the final, on July 10, when the identity of the Africa 1 qualifier will be revealed.
With Uruguay claiming the Americas 1 ticket to France 2023, it is left to Chile and the USA to decide the region’s other qualifier,
While USA have appeared at every Rugby World Cup to date bar 1995, Chile have yet to experience what the tournament has to offer at first-hand.
Chile have home advantage in the first leg, in Santiago on 9 July, before the return leg takes place in Colorado a week later.
USA have won five of their six previous meetings with Los Condores, the last four by an average of more than 50 points, but with the Eagles in a poor run of form and Chile riding high on confidence, an upset cannot be discounted.
Los Condores defeated Canada in Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers and, as a result, the next tournament will be the first Rugby World Cup without the North Americans’ involvement.
Away wins over Russia in November only served to underline the growing credentials of a Chile squad mainly made up of players from this year’s Superliga Americana de Rugby runners-up, Selknam.
But having been named the host location for Rugby World Cups 2031 and 2033, USA will not want to miss out on an appearance at France 2023.
Eagles head coach Gary Gold has selected a strong-looking squad that includes one of the best fly-halves in the English Premiership in AJ MacGinty. Other eye-catching inclusions are the return to the international fold of Samu Manoa, 37, and the crossover of Martin Iosefo from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. Nearly a year since their Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifier victory over Cook Islands, Tonga are a matter of weeks away from knowing the identity of their next opponent on the road to France. — World Rugby News
Online Reporter