Kenya Simbas will join four other nations in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final qualification tournament scheduled for November 2022.

World Rugby has confirmed that the tournament will be held in Dubai at the Sevens Stadium from 6-18 November 2022.

Kenya Simbas second finish

Kenya Simbas who finished second in Africa after losing 36-0 to Namibia in the Rugby Africa Cup final played in France in July will be joined by Hong Kong (Asia/Pacific 2), Portugal (Europe 3) and the United States (Americas 3) in the tournament.

Portugal were the first to qualify for the Final Qualification Tournament after finishing third in the Rugby Europe Championship 2021 and 2022 combined rankings.

After narrowly losing 52-51 on aggregate to Chile in the Americas 2 play-off, the United States will be looking to win the Final Qualification Tournament to continue their record of qualifying for every Rugby World Cup since their sole absence in 1995.

Hong Kong on their part will attempt to recover from their 44-22 setback to Tonga on Saturday, July 23, to qualify for the first time and complete the RWC 2023 line-up.

Rugby World Cup slot

The four teams will compete in a round-robin format over three match days from November 6 to 18, with the team with the highest competition points claiming the final slot at France 2023. The winner of this competition will be in Pool C against Wales, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia.

The Final Qualification Tournament match schedule and match officials will be announced in due course.

Kenya Simba’s second appearance

The Simbas will be featuring in the tournament for the second time in a row. In 2018, they were in France for the final qualification tournament which featured the likes of Canada, Germany and Hong Kong.

The side then under Ian Snook lost all their matches and failed to pick a single point. Canada finished top with 14 points and qualified for the World Cup.