GIVE PRIORITY TO THE SABLES, SAYS RUGBY AFRICA BOSS

Tinashe Kusema

Zimpapers Sports Hub

RUGBY Africa president, Herbert Mensah, says Zimbabwe must rally behind the Sables now or risk wasting a rare chance to rebuild the game.

Mensah, who also sits on the World Rugby executive board, is in the country on a courtesy visit to the Zimbabwe Rugby union Interim Management Committee.

He also spoke during Zimpapers’ Inside the Scrum podcast.

He believes Zimbabwe’s back-to-back Rugby Africa Cup triumphs and qualification for the next Rugby World Cup in Australia should become the launch pad for deeper change in the sport.

“It was important for me that Zimbabwe qualified for the World Cup,” said Mensah.

“It’s one thing to have potential and another to deliver. When I saw the team in Kampala two years ago I could tell there was a winning side there.”

Mensah said Zimbabwe’s success was not just about talent but also the spirit he believes runs through the team.

“If you have played rugby you understand that spirit,” he said.

“You see it with the Springboks. There is something that runs through every player when they step onto the field. Zimbabwe also have that.”

The Rugby Africa boss has a long history with the country. He first visited Zimbabwe in the early 1980s and even played club rugby with Old Hararians during his stay.

Those ties later drew him into efforts to help stabilise local rugby when governance battles threatened to derail the sport.

Mensah was part of the process that led to the creation of the Zimbabwe Rugby union Interim Management Committee, an arrangement backed by Rugby Africa and World Rugby to restore order.

“It is no good winning on the field if you lose off the field,” he said.

“When I saw what was happening here I felt we had to help make sure Zimbabwe did not miss out on the World Cup because of administrative problems.”

While the interim committee has brought stability, Mensah says the job is far from complete.

He believes the next step requires stronger backing from government and the business community if Zimbabwe rugby is to grow again.

“Sport is big business now and rugby cannot do it alone,” he said.

“You need business and you need government support. That is how many countries built successful programmes.”

Mensah said Zimbabwe now has a powerful stage to promote itself through rugby.

Seeing the Sables running out at the World Cup, he said, could open doors far beyond the sport itself.

“This moment is too important for Zimbabwe rugby to waste.”