The African qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be staged as a knockout tournament in France next year, organisers said on Monday.
The top eight African teams compete in the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 in France, which will serve as the last qualifying round for the 2023 World Cup.
The French are also hosts of the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in September-October.
The African knockout tournament will be in July 2022, with the winning team directly qualifying for the World Cup and set to join hosts France, New Zealand’s top-ranked All Blacks, Italy and the Americas 1 qualifier in Pool A.
The runners-up will get a place in the final qualification tournament for the world showpiece event.
South Africa’s Springboks are the defending world champions, heaving beaten England in 2019 final in Japan.