Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THERE is a moment late in training, when bodies begin to slow and conversations drift, when Tavonga Chirisa finds something extra, lowering his shoulder and driving straight through contact — the kind of collision that makes teammates look up and coaches stop mid-sentence.
That is where the name took hold.
“Rhino”.
Not as a joke, not from a dressing room laugh, but as a reflection of how he plays — direct and unforgiving.
He is a young player with little interest in going around defenders when there is a line to be broken straight through them.
At 19, he is still early in his journey, still learning the demands of the position and the rhythm of senior rugby, but his story is already moving faster than that of many players, shaped as much by interruption as by promise, now pulled into sharper focus by something bigger than his own development.
Zimbabwe are going to the Rugby World Cup, and for players like Chirisa, that changes everything.
Long before that reality came into view, before the World Cup felt like something that could belong to him, there was a player he kept returning to.
Jerry Collins
“For the past couple of months, even years, I have been really looking into and reading about Jerry Collins,” Chirisa says. “He truly is an idol of mine. I love his playing style and everything he stood for, on and off the pitch.”
Collins played with a rare balance, a smile on his face, but no softness in his tackles.
It is that contrast Chirisa is drawn to, the idea that rugby can be both joyful and uncompromising at the same time.
You see it in how he plays, the commitment to contact, the refusal to second-guess, the way he carries with purpose and rarely looks for an escape route when a collision is there to be won.
“I don’t do a lot of passing,” he says, laughing. “I prefer to just bulldoze over anything in my way.”
The name fits, although there were some challenges at first.
“At first, it was supposed to be Hippo,” he says. “But it didn’t sound right. It wasn’t menacing enough.”
So Rhino stayed, and over time, it became less of a nickname and more of an identity, something that follows him onto the field and shapes how people read his game.
Behind that physical presence is a path that has not been straightforward. Chirisa’s years at Prince Edward School came at the worst time, just as Covid-19 led to the suspension of school sport, a situation that took away the platform that should have pushed him — matches, exposure and steady progression young players rely on.
“When I was still at Prince Edward, I didn’t get so much game time because of Covid,” he says. “It had a big impact on all of us. Some stayed on the grind and perfected their game while others didn’t,” he says.
It is not said as an excuse, more as an acknowledgment of what those years took.
Just as the game began to resume, another setback followed — an ankle injury that ruled him out of the 2025 schoolboy season.
That is usually where doubt creeps in, but for Chirisa, it did the opposite.
He returned without noise, rebuilding from wherever he found himself.
Now at St George’s College and turning out for Zambezi Steelers, he is back in motion, not yet the finished product but moving with purpose again, pushing through sessions with the same intent that first earned him his name. This time, the horizon looks different.
Zimbabwe’s qualification for the 2027 Rugby World Cup has shifted everything, turning what once felt distant into something that can be chased with a straight face.
“Zimbabwe qualifying for the World Cup made me happy, excited and optimistic again,” he says. “It has been a wake-up call for me and a lot of other players.”
The dream now has a destination — Australia.
“My eyes and my future are focused on one thing,” he says. “I see myself in a big stadium, playing in the big leagues.”
Between now and that stage lies a brutal reality — competition. Even within his position, the numbers are unforgiving.
“Looking at me and the other guys who play hooker, there are probably 15 or 16 aspirants,” he says. “And only two or three slots. I want to be one of those guys.”
“Right now, it’s work every day, every week.”
For now, the focus is closer to home. A full season at St George’s, the Harare Under-20 Rugby League with Zambezi Steelers and later the Barthes Trophy in Uganda with the Junior Sables.
Each game matters, each performance counts, because this is where decisions
begin.
Chirisa understands how quickly the game can take things away, and that awareness shows in how he plays now, with urgency, with intent, a refusal to drift through phases, a willingness to commit fully to every carry and every tackle, like the name suggests, like the player he grew up watching.
Somewhere ahead, there is a bigger stage waiting, one that will demand more than just physical presence.
Whether he gets there will depend on what he does when no one is watching, in the small improvements that turn potential into selection.
For now, the path is clear.
And each time Chirisa lowers his shoulder and drives forward, he is pushing towards something that now feels within reach.
