Fourteen teams will battle for the final three spots available in the men's competition at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai at the Africa regional qualifying event in Tunisia at the end of this month.
Five of these have previously graced the Rugby World Cup Sevens stage, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibia having played in two tournaments and Tunisia and Morocco in one apiece.
All five will be harbouring dreams of qualifying for the 2009 edition at the purpose-built venue 'The Sevens' in Dubai to represent the region alongside South Africa, who qualified automatically after reaching the Melrose Cup quarter finals in 2005.
Kenya are a core member of the IRB Sevens World Series and will fancy their chances of securing one of the three places in Dubai. Especially after last season, when they finished seventh overall in the Series standings and reached a first ever Cup semi final in the New Zealand leg of the circuit in Wellington.
However, Benjamin Ayimba and his side will not be underestimating the threat posed by the likes of Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Uganda who all played in the South African leg of the Series last December.
Uganda eye qualification double
The Kenyans have been drawn in Pool A with Morocco and Ivory Coast for the two-day qualifier on 31 October-1 November in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, while Pool B features the host nation along with Zambia and Senegal.
Zimbabwe are joined in Pool C by Madagascar, Botswana and Nigeria, while Uganda - drawn with Namibia, Cameroon and Swaziland in Pool D - will hope to follow the example of their women's side who recently qualified along with South Africa for the inaugural RWC Sevens women's competition in Dubai.
The four pool winners will progress to the Cup semi finals and to within one victory of the RWC Sevens with both finalists and the winner of the third place playoff the three sides who will have cause to celebrate.
Nineteen men's teams have already qualified for RWC Sevens, 10 of them through the regional qualifying process in Uruguay (South America), Portugal, Wales, Georgia, Ireland, Italy (Europe), Samoa, Tonga (Oceania), Japan and Hong Kong (Asia).
The North America regional qualifier takes place in the Bahamas on 25-26 October with two places up for grabs.
These nations will join defending champions Fiji and the other automatic qualifiers from RWC Sevens 2005 - New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, France, Scotland and Argentina - along with the Arabian Gulf as Host Union in Dubai.
Tunisia pool line up
Pool A
Kenya
Morocco
Ivory Coast
Pool B
Tunisia
Senegal
Zambia
Pool C
Zimbabwe
Madagascar
Botswana
Nigeria
Pool D
Uganda
Namibia
Cameroon
Swaziland
