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Kenya will be appearing at the men's rugby sevens tournament for the third successive Olympic Games

As Kenya and South Africa gear up for the rugby sevens at the Paris 2024 Olympics, former Springboks winger Bryan Habana is optimistic about the sport’s “bright future” in Africa.

Kenya’s men’s team secured their place at a third consecutive Games by defeating South Africa, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro bronze medallists and typically the dominant force in African rugby.

“The fact that Kenya overcame the Blitzboks in that tournament gives you a sense of what talent is within the African continent,” Habana shared with BBC Sport Africa.

The qualification process also featured Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Mauritius, highlighting World Rugby’s efforts to provide opportunities for emerging teams to develop and compete at higher levels.

“Fifteens is obviously where a lot of the financial impetus and injection goes,” Habana noted. “But you could look at the likes of Mauritius that are now coming through – they are investing a lot of time, money, and effort into their sevens programme.”

South Africa’s men rebounded to secure the final spot among the 12 nations heading to Paris via a repechage event. They will be Africa’s only representatives in the women’s competition as well.

“Four years ago, our female players were conceding 50 points in their own tournament in Cape Town,” Habana said. “But this year in Dubai, they pushed both New Zealand and Fiji extremely close and even beat the USA, one of the top four ranked teams in the world.

“That just shows where there is opportunity to continually develop, and that great results can be achieved.”