Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT is quite a week for Zimbabwe Sables coach Piet Benade and he is already starting to feel the heat.
Samoa have already been confirmed as final participant for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia with World Rugby announcing the schedule for those nations that will be taking part in next year’s Nations Cup tournament.
The World Rugby Nations Cup is linked to the top-level Nations Championship and provides unprecedented certainty and clarity of international competition between Rugby World Cups for teams outside of major annual international competitions.
For their debut in 2026, the Nations Championship will feature all Six Nations Rugby teams representing the northern hemisphere (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales) and taking on the SANZAAR nations (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) plus two invitational teams competing on behalf of the southern hemisphere.
The two invitational teams are Fiji and Japan.
Mirroring the top division, the World Rugby Nations Cup will be played across the July and November inter-national windows in 2026 and 2028.
Canada, Chile, Georgia, Hong Kong China, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Tonga, Uruguay, the US, Samoa and Zimbabwe have all secured their place in the tournament.
Zimbabwe have been drawn up against Tonga, the US and Canada.
However, before that there is the issue of the Rugby World Cup draw which will be held tomorrow in Sydney, Australia.
Benade, for his part, has likened this news to the euphoria that he felt back in July when Zimbabwe broke a 34-year streak and finally qualified for the World Cup.
It has all become too real for the Sables’ gaffer.
“The release of the Nations Cup fixtures really made everything feel real,” he said.
“There is a lot of excitement around the group once again, in terms of the challenges ahead and playing against the tier-two teams.
“We will finally find out how we measure up,” he said.
As it pertains to the draw, Benade said: “it will be another opportunity to feel the magnitude of the achievement.
“Seeing our country drawn to play against the best in the game is a huge privilege and honour.
“I intend to watch the draw on the television with a couple of close family and friends.
“I might even invite a few coaches and staff for a get-together.”
Benade said that the draw is arguably the most important stage on the road to Australia 2027 as it is set to signal the official start of his team preparations.
“The draw will be important as it will allow us to start following teams a bit closer, as well as start planning preparatory matches against some of these nations that we will not meet at the World Cup.
“If we are to target a match, we would need to focus on the opponent drawn from the band just below us, which consists of teams ranked 13th to 18th in the world.
“As far as the teams in band one and two, we know that those games will be historical and a massive opportunity for the boys to show their talent with an opportunity to change their lives with good performances against the world’s best,” he said.
The men’s Rugby World Cup will be the biggest tournament in the sport’s history with 24 teams battling it out for the Webb Ellis Cup in two years.
According to the format rules, there will now be six pools with four teams in each.
The top two teams from each pool will progress to the Round of 16, while the four best third-place teams will also progress.
Those four teams will be determined by competition points first, and if that doesn’t separate the sides, then points difference and try difference will be the next factors used respectively.
The teams are going to be seeded from 1 to 24 based on their World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw.
As things stand, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, France, England and Argentina are the top six teams in the rankings.
The next six are Australia, Scotland, Fiji, Italy, Georgia and Wales.
The top six teams will be grouped in Band one, while the next six form Band Two.
Each pool will have one team from each of the four bands.
There is only one exception to all this as Australia have already been placed in Pool A as they are the host nations and will therefore contest the opening game on October 1, 2027.
The Wallabies are currently in Band 2, which means a team from Band 1 will be drawn and placed in Pool A, and they would automatically be joined by Australia.
Benade has already started to plot down the journey to Australia as the preparations will only start to gather momentum once the draw is done and dusted.
He also confirmed that Stormers forward Gary Porter has indeed availed himself for the Sables and will be part of the squad going forward.
Porter, a South Africa-based rugby player, plies his trade with the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship.
Porter was a member of the Ikey Tigers side that was defeated in the final of the 2021 Varsity Cup, after having joined the Western Province straight out of school and making one appearance for them in the 2018 Rugby Challenge.
In 2021, he joined Ealing Trailfinders, making six appearances for the side in the RFU Championship.
“We are in constant communication with players and we are happy with the progress of possible personnel who are showing interest in playing for the Sables,” said Benade.
“One such example is the Stormers lock. Gary Porter, whose mother was born in Bulawayo, has confirmed he is available to play.
“We are looking to build the tight five, so Porter being added to the second row stocks will be a significant addition,” he said.
