Tunisia and Bahrain will fight on Thursday 18 August for rank 17. In their first placement match both winners reached clear victories. 

Tunisia-Gabon 27:14 (13:10)
Tunisia started with a strong defence, but after a 6:3-lead the North Africans lost their line and Gabon took this chance to catch up to a 7:8 after 20 minutes. Tunisia’s coach replied immediately with a team time out, which resulted in a better performance of the favourite. On half time Tunisia lead 13:10 and after 45 played minutes and a score of 20:11 for Tunisia, the decision was made. With a final score of  27:14 Tunisia will compete for rank 17 on Thursday.

Bahrain-New Zealand  61:20 (31:10)
The match against outsider New Zealand was a “festival of goals” for Bahrain. The Bahrain youngsters scored 15 goals during 15 minutes (15:4); 31 on half time (31:10) and record breaking 61 (61:20) at the end of the match. Beside Tunisia, Bahrain will fight on Thursday for  rank 17, Gabon and New Zealand will compete for the 19th rank.