New Rugby Africa Gold Cup perpetual trophy unveiled as Rugby World Cup qualifiers beckon

The New Africa Gold Cup trophy that was unveiled (C). [Photo/Courtesy]

The 2018 Rugby Africa Gold Cup on Tuesday launched a new ‘perpetual trophy’ and other brand at the AIPS congress in Brussels, Germany.

The tourney which doubles up as which doubles as a Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification considers the move as a new approach to developing the Sport by instilling more competition.

It is a tournament that will be played across seven match days beginning June 16 to August 18 this year. The tourney encompasses Africa’s top teams that have not already qualified for the Rugby World Cup 2019 like Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Morocco and Tunisia.

Namibia will reach its exciting conclusion when the final is played on 18 August
at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek.

The winner of the tourney will gain automatic qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan as Africa 1, joining reigning champions New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and the repechage winner in Pool B.

The Rugby Africa Gold Cup runner-up will go straight to the four-team repechage tournament in November 2018.

Speaking during the launch of perpetual trophy, World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont lauded the growth of Rugby in the African continent and added that this will change even farther for the better.

He said:

"Rugby has experienced tremendous growth across Africa in recent years, helped by proactive programmes such as Get Into Rugby, and we are looking forward to witnessing a high quality Rugby Africa Gold Cup as the nations compete for the chance to qualify for the Rugby World Cup 2019 and to lift this fantastic new trophy for the first time."

On his part, the chairman of Rugby Africa Abdelaziz Bougja said that the trophy is one of the most precious gifts for the rugby lovers and players in the continent.

"The Rugby Africa Gold Cup trophy is the highest reward for any African rugby player and presenting this most symbolic perpetual trophy for the first time at the International Sports Press Association’ Congress and the European capital is an amazing experience in the lifetime. This perpetual trophy will honour African rugby players for generations to come," He said.

Integrity, Respect, Solidarity, Passion and Discipline which inspire 9.1 million people to play the game
The trophy is uniquely designed to suit its theme. It is expertly engraved with the text ‘Rugby Africa Gold Cup’ and has the shape of Africa in pride of place on the main body. Names of 17 previous winners are on its surface, plus another space for at least seventy more winning teams' names to be engraved on the base.