South Africa may be the dominant force in the Rugby Africa region, but there are many success stories across a continent where rugby continues to grow in popularity with each passing year, taking Rugby Africa’s membership from the founding eight unions to 37 in 2016.

The Springboks have won the Rugby World Cup three times, in 1995, 2007 and 2019 but Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast and Namibia have also graced the sport’s showcase tournament, helping to introduce new audiences across the continent to rugby.

The sight of 45,000 strong crowds packed into stadiums to watch Madagascar play in the Africa Cup no longer surprise, while rugby fever continues to spread throughout nations like Senegal as Rugby Africa uses World Rugby’s Get Into Rugby programme to introduce children to the sport.