The sport is popular among school children, but the rugby union playing population in Ivory Coast is still relatively small with only 14 clubs.

[4] The first recorded game in the Ivory Coast was just after the Second World War, in 1946, when Mme Andre Benois organised a match between two teams of expatriates.

[4] Although the origins of Ivorian rugby go back to the 1960s and earlier, real growth came about when the paid French official Jean-François Turon managed to get the game adopted by Abidjan University at the turn of the 1980s, but it is François Dali who is seen as the father of Ivorian rugby, and his son, Athanase Dali, was the national captain during the 1990s.

[7] Ivory Coast is a founding member of the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR), which was launched officially in January 1986, in Tunis, Tunisia.

"[6] Although Namibia and Zimbabwe had qualified for the RWC at different times, both of these countries were firmly within the South African orbit, and had mostly white players who spoke English and/or Afrikaans.

25 out of 26 were Ivorian-born (the exception being Max Brito, who was born in Senegal);[6] half the squad was based and played in France;[6] and many of the players were originally from Abidjan's harbour district.

Captain Athanase Dali was injured playing against Scotland who won 89–0, and fearless tackler Max Brito suffered a spinal injury when he went for a Tongan.