The Rugby Africa Men's Cup 2024 final takes place in the Ugandan city of Kampala on Sunday and for the first time in 12 years neither Namibia or Kenya are involved.
The final, which kicks off at 16:00 local time, will be shown live and for free on RugbyPass TV.
Algeria, whose previous best finish was third in the last tournament in 2022, have made it through to their first final after an eye-catching 20-12 win over Kenya and they will face Zimbabwe, who pulled off a similarly big shock in beating reigning champions Namibia 32-10 in Wednesday's other semi-final.
Sadly for the Sables, former Super Rugby half-back Ian Prior will not be available for the match as he has had to fly home to Australia.
Prior produced a masterful display in steering the Sables to their first win over the Welwitschias in 23 years, and only their third in test rugby against a team that has won the last six titles.
Zimbabwe's solitary title win at this elite level of the competition came in 2012 after a 22-18 win over Uganda in Tunisia but they are now in a position to win it for a second time and give themselves a huge confidence boost ahead of the regional qualification process for Rugby World Cup 2027.
However, they are up against one of the most in-form teams in world rugby at the moment in Algeria.
The North Africans are already set to climb to another record position in the World Rugby Men's Rankings after their exploits against the Simbas in midweek, but another win could see them break into the world's top 50 if it is by a sufficiently big margin.
Well over half of Algeria's points have come from the imperious kicking of full-back Julien Serge Caminati but if they are going to make history and become the region's champions for the first time, they'll need to go up a gear in attack as Zimbabwe always have tries in them.
The most Zimbabwe can climb by winning Sunday’s final against Algeria is three places to 27th – two shy of their highest-ever ranking - but they could still replace Namibia as the highest-ranked team in Africa except South Africa.
The change in the status quo will occur if Namibia are well beaten by Kenya in the third place play-off and Zimbabwe beat Algeria, with a record low of 30th possible for the Welwitschias.
Namibia's current lowest position of 29th was held for one week only in September 2006.
Kenya must beat Namibia by more than 15 points to improve on 34th place. Such an outcome would see them leapfrog both Korea and Sweden.
Tournament hosts Uganda will compete with Senegal for fifth place, while the first game of the day at the Mandela National Stadium between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso will decide seventh.
Photo credit: Rugby Algeria
