The Africa Zone qualifying campaign for Rugby World Cup 2003 got under way on 28 July 2001 when Zambia made the most of their home advantage to come from behind and edge Cameroon 25-24 in Chingola.
The first round involved six nations – the others being Swaziland, Madagascar, Uganda and Botswana – split into two pools of three with each playing two matches, one home and one away. The two pool winners then joined Kenya in the next round.
Cameroon recovered from their opening defeat to beat Uganda, who had themselves beaten Zambia 21-17 a fortnight before, 17-0 and win Pool A on points difference as the only nation with a positive difference.
They were joined in the second round by Madagascar, who came through Pool B with an unbeaten record after seeing off the challenge of Botswana 31-11 and Swaziland 26-21.
Madagascar’s impressive form continued in their 13 October encounter with Kenya, the home side recovering from a half-time deficit to triumph 27-20, much to the delight of the crowd in Antananarivo.
A fortnight later Madagascar overcame Cameroon 30-24 to confirm their status as Pool winners and subsequent place in the third round alongside the Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
These six nations were then split into two pools of three with Tunisia drawing first blood in the Northern section, although only after scoring an injury-time try to pip Morocco 27-26 in Tunis on May 18 2002.
Tunisia followed this with a 13-8 defeat of the Cote d’Ivoire a week later to clinch the Northern honours and a home-and-away play-off against the Southern winners for a place at Rugby World Cup 2003.
Madagascar saw their unbeaten run ended 52-3 by Zimbabwe on June 2, a result dwarfed by Namibia’s 116-0 victory two weeks later. Namibia then beat Zimbabwe, just as they had en route to the last World Cup in 1999, to top the Southern Pool.
The fourth round proved a nerve racking affair with Namibia beating Tunisia 26-19 in Windhoek on September 28, only to lose 24-17 a week later in a game moved to the larger Stade El Menzahin and broadcast live on television.
That left the aggregate scores tied at 43-43 but, after a few tense moments, Namibia discovered they would be joining Australia, Argentina, Ireland and Romania in Pool A by virtue of scoring four tries to Tunisia’s three across the fixture.
All was not lost though for Tunisia, who did have another chance to qualify through Répechage One, although this passage was briefly halted when opponents Russia were expelled by the IRB just two days before their January 25 encounter.
Russia appealed against their expulsion, handed down over the eligibility of three South African born players fielded against Spain in the Europe Zone final round, but lost and Spain were reinstated.
However the time delay meant the original home and away playoff was not possible, so Spain and Tunisia met at a neutral venue in France with the European side triumphing 33-16 to move a step closer to Australia.