Rugby Africa Cup Elimination Stage Kicks Off This Weekend With Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire.
The second Rugby Africa Cup (RAC) 2020 elimination stage match kick offs on Saturday, 23 November at 18:00 CAT at the Bingerville Stadium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Both teams are determined to continue to the group stage of the RAC 2020 where after they will stand a chance to compete in the final RAC 2020 tournament and be ranked among the top continental teams.
“The Rwanda Rugby National Team (Silverbacks) is hopeful to win as our players got enough time to prepare for the Ivory Coast.” said Kamanda Tharcisse, President of Rwanda Rugby Federation.
Kamanda says that Silverbacks started extensive training in September 2019 with the Head Coach Claude Aime Ezoua, and then received additional skills and experience from British, French and South African coaches.
“The Silverbacks also played a friendly game with Inshuti Z’u Rwanda (Friends of Rwanda) on November 6, 2019, which helped in selecting the final list of 23 players.” he adds.
He confirmed his confidence in everyone in the squad and belief in their spirit of teamwork and aggressiveness which he says would greatly yield them positive results.
Edgar Babou, Sport Manager Team Côte d’Ivoire declared: “This eliminatory match against Rwanda is very important for us as it will allow us to qualify further in the Rugby Africa Cup 2020 in June next year.”
We have started training sessions a couple of months ago with the group of players that is already here in Côte d’Ivoire.
He promised to put up the most powerful team of the moment composed of players from the national championship and strengthened with some players coming from France, so we have consistency as well as the most forceful team available.
He expressed their huge respect for the Rwandan team and their knowlegde that the team can benefit from continuity since it has been playing together for months.
“That’s why we do take this match very serious and will meet Rwanda with big determination, but also respect.” Edgar said.
The match will be broadcasted live and for free on Rugby Africa’s Facebook page @RugbyAfrique.