Kampala, July 8 (UNI) The national teams of Algeria and Zimbabwe have sailed through to the semi-final stage of the Rugby Africa Cup 2025.
Algeria humbled Cote d’Ivoire 41-6, while the reigning champions Zimbabwe saw off Morocco 43-8 in the first quarterfinal matches played on Tuesday at the Mandela National Stadium in Uganda’s capital Kampala.
Although Algeria took a slim 8-6 lead at the interval, the Lions Cubs returned in the second half and scored several tries and conversions that gave them the advantage.
“We are very happy that we managed to play as a team and get a good result against Cote d’Ivoire. Now the focus will quickly turn to the semi-final match,” Algeria’s instrumental player Serge Julien Caminati told Xinhua.
This year, the goal is to obviously win the tournament and qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, but another final finish would be good enough to qualify them for the Africa-Asia playoff game.
Kiwa Mufura and Dylan Utete were some of the try scorers for the Zimbabwe Sables. “Our target remains to qualify for the World Cup, and we know there is still a lot of work to be done,” said Hilton Mudariki, the Zimbabwe captain.
Zimbabwe will now face the winner between Uganda and Kenya at the semi-final stage, while Algeria waits to face the winner between Namibia and Senegal.
From the African continent, South Africa has qualified for a record eight World Cup tournaments, while Namibia has made it seven times. Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire have qualified twice and once, respectively.
