Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE continue to reap rewards of their successful defence of the Africa Cup with the Sables rising on the World Rugby rankings.
According to the latest rankings, released on Monday, the Sables climbed two places up the ladder to ease into 24th place after accumulating 50.80 points.
The move, also made the Sables the third highest jumpers behind Algeria and Senegal.
Algeria are the highest jumpers as they climbed 10 rungs up from 53 to 43 while Senegal went from 51 to 45.
However, Zimbabwe are now the highest ranked African nation outside of first-placed South Africa (92.78 points) as they jumped Namibia who dropped two rungs to position 27 in the world.
The men’s and Women’s World Rugby Rankings are calculated using a “Points Exchange” system, where sides gain or lose points based on the match result.
The other criteria includes the relative strength of each team, the margin of victory, and an allowance for home advantage.
All member countries have a rating, typically between 0 and 100.
The top side in the world will normally have a rating above 90.
Any match that is not a full international between two member countries does not count at all.
Points are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the importance of this event, but all other international matches, friendly or competitive, are treated the same across the world.
Zimbabwe’s big jump comes after the Sables successfully defended their Rugby Africa Cup title in Uganda.
There they won all three of their matches, beating Morocco (43-8), Kenya (29-23) and, in the final, Namibia (30-28).
By virtue of clinching the Rugby Africa Cup, Zimbabwe also booked their place at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
They join South Africa as the two African representatives at the quadrennial global rugby showcase.
Namibia can still join the two but they will have to make it past the Africa/Asia playoff and the Repechage tournament slated for November 8-18 in the United Arab Emirates.
Now, the spotlight solely shines on the Sables who returned home to a rousing welcome at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on Tuesday evening.
It is there that Sables coach Piet Benade initially expressed satisfaction with the way his charges performed, but also expressed reservations on some elements that the team needs to work on.
Like many of his charges, Benade has been gradually coming to grips with the reality of the Sables attaining World Cup qualification.
“It had not sunk in fully but it is starting to now,” he said.
“It has started to slowly sink in now that we have come back home and we have seen the people and the reaction.
“I think we could feel it online, you know, but once you see the people and the happiness that we have managed to give them, it’s very special,” he said.
Benade also noted that the main objective was to win, acknowledging that they were not so fluid in some of their games.
“I don’t think we played our best rugby and we were fortunate to be good enough to win our three games.
“There were some tight games that didn’t need to be played in patches where we let ourselves down.
“We had three tough matches.
“The quarter-final was tough despite the scoreline, the semi-final and final ended being tight games.
“We are very happy that we were able to come out with the results, and now it’s time to look forward,” he said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa