In the African Regional qualifying process, 14 of the 15 eligible IRB member nations took part (South Africa had already qualified from Rugby World Cup 2007).

The qualifying process began with playoffs in May, 2008. The 2008–09 Africa Cup doubled as the qualifying tournament, with the winner being Africa's direct qualifier. The runner-up of the tournament will be entered into the four-team World Cup playoff for the 20th 2011 Rugby World Cup finalist berth.

The Cup was decided first by four pools of three teams with the pool winners qualifying for the semi-finals.

Namibia swept Tunisia in a two-legged final, qualifying for Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, while Tunisia advanced to the Final Place Playoff.

Two single-legged playoffs were used to cut the nations down from the 14 eligible nations to the 12 who would compete for the 2008–09 Africa Cup. Preliminary round teams were the lowest ranked teams in the north and south respectively. Nigeria and Swaziland were eliminated in this round.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Cameroon	26 - 6	Nigeria	11 May 2008	Yaoundé, Cameroon
Botswana	25 - 7	Eswatini	17-May-2008	Gaborone, Botswana

Pool winners qualified for the semi-finals. Pools were determined through world rankings.^[1]

Bonus point system:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 for a draw
• 0 for a loss
• 1 point for scoring four tries in a game
• 1 point for losing by seven points or less.

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	TB	LB	Points
Namibia	2	2	0	0	48	31	+17	1	0	9
Senegal	1	0	0	1	10	13	-3	0	1	1
Zimbabwe	1	0	0	1	21	35	-14	0	0	0

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Senegal	10 - 13	Namibia	14-June-2008	Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar
Namibia	35 - 21	Zimbabwe	02-Aug-2008	Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek
Zimbabwe		Senegal	Cancelled	Harare, Zimbabwe

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	TB	LB	Points
Ivory Coast	2	2	0	0	53	18	+35	1	0	9
Morocco	2	1	0	1	38	39	-1	1	0	5
Zambia	2	0	0	2	27	61	-34	0	0	0

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Zambia	18 - 29	Morocco	14-June-2008	Showgrounds, Lusaka
Ivory Coast	32 - 9	Zambia	12-July-2008	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
Morocco	9 - 21	Ivory Coast	02-Aug-2008	COC Stadium, Casablanca

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	TB	LB	Points
Tunisia	2	2	0	0	60	25	+35	1	0	9
Kenya	2	1	0	1	91	52	+39	1	0	5
Cameroon	2	0	0	2	18	92	-74	0	1	1

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Cameroon	10 - 16	Tunisia	14-June-2008	Yaoundé, Cameroon
Kenya	76 - 8	Cameroon	12-July-2008	RFUEA Ground, Nairobi
Tunisia	44 - 15	Kenya	02-Aug-2008	Stade El Menzah, Tunis

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	TB	LB	Points
Uganda	2	2	0	0	59	32	+27	2	0	10
Madagascar	2	1	0	1	67	47	+20	1	0	5
Botswana	2	0	0	2	25	72	-47	0	0	0

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Botswana	10 - 27	Uganda	14-June-2008	Gaborone, Botswana
Madagascar	45 - 15	Botswana	12-July-2008	Stade Municipal de Mahamasina, Antananarivo
Uganda	32 - 22	Madagascar	02-Aug-2008	Kyodondo Rugby Club, Kampala

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Ivory Coast	13 - 13	Namibia	14-June-2009	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan
Namibia	54 - 14	Ivory Coast	27-June-2009	Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Uganda	17 - 41	Tunisia	13-June-2009	Kyodondo Rugby Club, Kampala
Tunisia	38 - 13	Uganda	27-June-2009	Stade El Menzah, Tunis

• Winners on aggregate progress to Round Three.

Namibia and Tunisia competed for Africa's automatic place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals in New Zealand over two legs, with Namibia qualifying for their fourth consecutive world cup. Tunisia faced Romania, the third-placed team from Europe, in the semi-finals of the Play-off series.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date	Venue
Tunisia	13 - 18	Namibia	14 Nov 2009	Stade El Menzah, Tunis
Namibia	22 - 10	Tunisia	28 Nov 2009	Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek

Namibia won the series 2–0, with an aggregate score of 40–23.

2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying

• Confirmation from CAR
• Competition outline