African Rugby (General Tier 2 & 3)

[saulan]

When I was in stellebosch back in 2018 we had an MLR ref visit for two weeks and he said that MLR was a similar level to WP super league A (what Maties and ikeys play in). I'm sure mlr has gotten better but I don't think it's improved that much.

From what I've seen of the first division on super sport's YouTube I think the top mlr teams would walk through but the bottoms sides don't have the players.

Premier Division Currie cup sides are way too organized and professional for MLR teams.

Ah okay. Super League A can be quite competitive, especially with the Uni teams that are often the development houses for at least WP/Stormers and I'd say the Bulls as well. There were points where some of those teams were recruiting recently retired players into the leagues, so definitely an interesting development ground.

That's a fair assessment I think. Cheetahs/Griquas remain quite strong in the premier division and the Franchise teams have pretty decent depth to get the wins.

The suggestion is the Georgians have been fielding somewhat more developmental sides in the Currie Cup than in the RESC. Assuming there are playoffs

For Zimbabwe and Kenya there is a huge gulf and the primary hope I think is that they can strengthen their set peice. If Namibia falter then Africa may fall miles behind Tier2 in Europe and the Americas (to the extent I'd question them having an auto qualification spot in addition to SA).

I think there should be playoffs, and they should definitely make it given where they are in the log and given they have the Leopards next, who aren't doing well. Will be interesting to see if how they perform if they have been playing a developmental team and they switch things up for the semis, because they'd be up against an undefeated Griffons side who have been getting high scores against most teams.

I haven't followed why Namibia aren't in this year's first division, but I'd hazard a guess it is monetary related. Could be that Namibia just need the competition in Africa to pick themselves up. I see the Ivory Coast hasn't been doing too badly. Hopefully they can scrape the qualification and give Namibia a wake up call. (Caveat that I've not followed if teams have been weaker versions in recent international games - specifically thinking of the Namibia - Ivory Coast game from July last year)

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Simbas beat Elephants. Now that's a step up. I can only assume the Elephants played a weakened side.

 

[Brigantine]

2 weeks until the 2022 Africa Cup (in France)

Imagine being Kenya, and traveling to France for a game against Uganda

 

[miccloarch]

2 weeks until the 2022 Africa Cup (in France)

Imagine being Kenya, and traveling to France for a game against Uganda

Seems like it was a success. Algeria running Kenya close and beating Zim to finish 3rd was somewhat interesting.

 

[Brigantine]

And a repeat for 2024. Some interesting results this time in Uganda.

Presumably next time will also count as RWC2027 qualifiers, who will go into that as favourites?