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The Rugby World Cup 2019 Repechage tournament will be hosted at the neutral venue of France. Multiple sources have confirmed the location, meanwhile Rugby Global revealed that the French Rugby Federation (FFR) has explicitly confirmed the event on recent job application postings.
In previous years the Repechage, a last-chance opportunity to qualify for RWC 2019, has followed a knock-out format in line with the rest of the qualification process. This year’s edition, however, will be a round-robin tournament between four teams to be held during the November test window. Specific dates and locations are to be confirmed.
Only one team has been confirmed for the tournament. Canada will take part having missed out during Americas qualifiers against the USA and Uruguay. The remaining spots will be determined as follows:
1) The Europe 2 spot will be decided by the winner of a play-off between Portugal, winners of the Rugby Europe Trophy, and the third-place finisher of the Rugby Europe Championship – the latter of which is yet to be confirmed pending the results of World Rugby’s ongoing investigation of events surrounding the March 18 match in Brussels and subsequent charges of ineligible players.
Once confirmed, Europe 2 will play against Samoa in a home-and-away series with the winner qualifying direct for RWC 2019 and the loser entered into the Repechage.
2) The Asia 1 spot will be decided in the Asia Rugby Championship with the top team from Hong Kong, South Korea, or Malaysia moving on to face the Cook Islands. The loser of that play-off is eliminated, the winner advances to the Repechage.
3) The final spot – Africa 2 – will be determined in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup competition. The top finisher of the six teams entered – Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe – will be crowned Gold Cup champions and qualify direct for the World Cup as Africa 1. The second-place finisher will advance to the Repechage as Africa 2.
The ranking format for teams in the Repechage has yet to be confirmed. While wins will be the primary determinant of who earns World Cup qualification, tie-breakers such as bonus points, head-to-head results, or points differential could all come into play.
