The Uganda's chances of playing in the 2015 Rugby World Cup suffered a big blow after the Rugby Cranes succumbed to a 48-32 defeat at the hands of hosts Madagascar in the third play-off in the Africa Cup this afternoon.

The defeat ends the Cranes hope of playing the qualifiers next year and will now play the promotion game in Tier 1B.

The Rugby Cranes also lost their first game 52-11 against Kenya are now relegated to tier 1B and will have to rebuild the team to play the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.

This is the second time Uganda has been relegated to tier 1B with the first time being in 2010 only to be saved by Namibia not honoring the tier 1A fixture.

Tier B has Cameroon, Tunisia and Senegal.

Uganda took an early 15-3 lead in the first half but faded while Madagascar took a 24-18 lead and later extended the lead to 34-18.

The Cranes fought back, managing to close the gap by 41-25 and later 41-30, but all the hopes were ended by the 'Makis' adding a try and conversion to seal the score 48-32.