Hartfield Rugby Grounds to host more Sables’ matches

LAST Saturday was a momentous occasion for rugby in Bulawayo, with the national team playing its first game at Hartsfield Rugby Grounds in five years, having last done so against Kenya in 2019 during the Victoria Cup.

Prior to their game against a Bulawayo provincial select side, the Sables also took time to present their Rugby Africa Cup trophy to the Mayor of Bulawayo, David Coltart, before they had a tour of Bulawayo Club to see the rich rugby heritage in the City of Kings and Queens.

The five-year gap without a national team playing at the country’s traditional home of rugby is something that the present Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) board believes should never happen again. ZRU president Losson Mtongwiza has said that they have big plans for Bulawayo and are looking at making sure that the province starts to get as many top games.

Mtongwiza said they are working on a plan to make sure that next year, Bulawayo gets a fair chance of hosting international rugby as they prepare for the 2027 Rugby World Cup Qualifier.

“Rugby is big here in Bulawayo. The All Blacks came here and lost to then Rhodesia in 1949. We need to bring rugby back to Bulawayo. Next year we have big plans as a union to make sure that rugby comes back to Bulawayo. That’s all going to be part of our preparations to go to Uganda next year.

“It’s very important for us to have international rugby back in Bulawayo and after winning the Africa Cup I decided that it was very important that we make sure that the people of Bulawayo start to get the top games. The first thing was to, obviously, make sure that the Africa champions come to Bulawayo with the trophy. From here, we have got a plan,” said Mtongwiza.

Mtongwiza, who tookover as ZRU president in May, said they are planning to have an eight-team tournament next year that will also ensure that high-intensity rugby is played at Hartsfield every fortnight. He said having support will also be key in making sure that Hartsfield is improved.

“We want to make sure that come next year, we play an eight-team tournament that includes Bulawayo and those teams will play home and away so Bulawayo will have a game every second weekend. We want at least eight to ten high-intensity games at Hartsfield. So the spectators and people out there will start to come out and support rugby.

“We can start to fix the ground, we can start to put money back into the ground and we can only do that when we have support. This kind of support that we saw, of 1 000 plus people, will really change that. So we are looking forward to it and we are looking forward to coming back to Bulawayo to make sure that we have the local games on and also, to get one or two international games being played here because this is the home of rugby,” said Mtongwiza.

He added that in order to grow the game, they need to take it to the people. Addressing the ZRU board and Sables players, Coltart said he is looking forward to working with the sport’s governing body and coming up with solutions of what needs to be done to ensure that international rugby is played regularly in Bulawayo.

“I want to work closely with Zimbabwe Rugby. We need to identify what needs to be done to Hartsfield to bring it up. I would be very interested to understand the condition of the pitch, what the toilets and change rooms are like and what needs to be done and then let’s work together. It’s a shame that the last time the Sables played at Hartsfield was eight years ago, that needs to change quickly but we recognise as a city that we have a role to play,” said Coltart.

He added that for rugby to grow, it should be spread across the country with talent identification and nurturing starting from grassroots. Coltart believes that the Sables, just like the Springboks in South Africa, are the pride of the nation.

“It’s important that we have a vision for rugby and for our nation. We have seen rugby in South Africa act, arguably, as the most important bonding in that nation — a nation that was almost torn apart by apartheid, by racial division, by all the hatred and poison that comes with it. The role that you play goes beyond just you playing rugby. The hopes of our nation are with you.

This country has an incredibly proud rugby heritage. World Cup qualification should be a given, if we are able to take this incredible talent that we have in our nation coming through our schools and keep it and feed it into senior rugby.

“I have absolutely no doubt that we will become a rugby powerhouse again. That has to be our vision. A critical component in making ourselves a powerhouse again is by ensuring that it is truly a national game. We need to have rugby played in all the major cities. At the very least, I know we have limited grounds. But, I hope the vision should be to have stadia in Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutare so that we spread it because when that happens, we will become a powerhouse again,” said Coltart.

Having successfully hosted the Africa champions last Saturday, rugby action in Bulawayo now shifts to the Sevens format with the first tournament scheduled to take place today at Hartsfield. A total of eight teams will be battling it out in the tournament that will be used to select a provincial Sevens side that will compete at the Zambezi Challenge Cup in Harare next Saturday.

The eight teams that will be in action today are defending champions Matabeleland Warriors, Old Miltonians, Bulldogs, Panthers, Highlanders, Nust, Zimbabwe School of Mines and Gweru Sports Club.
@brandon_malvin