2008–09 Africa Cup Explained

9th Africa Cup
Date:	14 May 2008– 27 November 2009
Champion:	Namibia
Runnerup:	Tunisia
Matches:	14
Nations:	19
Preceded By:	2007
Succeeded By:	2010

The 2008–09 Africa Cup is the ninth edition of highest level rugby union tournament in Africa. The competition involves twelve teams that are divided into two zones (North and South). Each zone is then divided into two pools of three. Each pool winner then qualifies for a semi-final; the semi-final winners then play each other in the final.

Format

The tournament will be used as the first stage of qualification for Rugby World Cup 2011. The top two teams will progress in the World Cup and in the Africa Cup, which will be the main tournament for the African qualifiers. Swaziland, Nigeria and Botswana have been added to the qualification process as they possess an IRB ranking. A two-legged playoff between the two lowest ranked teams from the south (Botswana and Swaziland) and the two lowest ranked teams from the north (Cameroon and Nigeria) will begin the tournament to take the competition numbers from 14 to 12 to make the group stage four groups of three teams.

Division 1 (Africa Cup)

Playoff round

Pool Stage

Pool winners qualify for the semi-finals. Top teams also progress to second stage of world cup qualification, in the Africa Cup. Pools determined through world rankings.^[1]

Bonus point system: 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss, 1 point for scoring four tries in a game, 1 point for losing by seven or less.

Pool A

width=165	Team	width=30	P	width=30	W	width=30	D	width=30	Lost	width=30	For	width=30	Ag.	width=40	Diff.	width=30	TB	width=30	LB	width=30	Points	width=200	Notes
	2	2	0	0	48	31	+17	1	0	9	To semifinals
	1	0	0	1	10	13	-3	0	1	1	to 2009 Africa Throphy North
	1	0	0	1	21	35	-14	0	0	0	to 2009 Africa Throphy South

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Pool B

width=165	Team	width=30	P	width=30	W	width=30	D	width=30	Lost	width=30	For	width=30	Ag.	width=40	Diff.	width=30	TB	width=30	LB	width=30	Points	width=200	Notes
	2	2	0	0	53	18	+35	1	0	9	to semifinals
	2	1	0	1	38	39	-1	1	0	5	to 2009 Africa Throphy North
	2	0	0	2	27	61	-34	0	0	0	to 2009 Africa Throphy South

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Pool C

width=165	Team	width=30	P	width=30	W	width=30	D	width=30	Lost	width=30	For	width=30	Ag.	width=40	Diff.	width=30	TB	width=30	LB	width=30	Points	width=200	Notes
	2	2	0	0	60	25	+35	1	0	9	to semifinals
	2	1	0	1	91	52	+39	1	0	5	to 2009 Africa Throphy North
	2	0	0	2	18	92	-74	0	1	1	to 2009 Africa Throphy North

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Pool D

width=165	Team	width=30	P	width=30	W	width=30	D	width=30	Lost	width=30	For	width=30	Ag.	width=40	Diff.	width=30	TB	width=30	LB	width=30	Points	width=200	Notes
	2	2	0	0	59	32	+27	2	0	10	to semifinals
	2	1	0	1	67	47	+20	1	0	5	to 2009 Africa Throphy South
	2	0	0	2	25	72	-47	0	0	0	to 2009 Africa Throphy South