“It Was Incredibly Humbling”: Rugby Africa President Meets Zimbabwe Sables
“The Sables are the champions of Africa. If you invest in the boys, in the girls, the return on investment is there for us to see.”
HARARE, Zimbabwe – Over the weekend, Rugby Africa President Herbert Mensah met with Zimbabwe’s national rugby team, the Sables, in Harare after holding high-level discussions with His Excellency Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe, regarding support for the team ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2027.
Mensah has been on an official week-long visit to the Southern African nation following Zimbabwe’s historic return to the Rugby World Cup after 34 years.
Speaking directly to the players after meeting the Zimbabwean leader at State House in Harare on Thursday, Mensah shared details of the commitments made by the government. He attended the meeting with his advisor and former President of Botswana Rugby, David Gilbert, and World Rugby Senior High-Performance Consultant Steph Nel.
“Yesterday with His Excellency the President, he promised to support all the things that we asked for,” Mensah said during a meeting with Zimbabwean players in Harare. “Top of the list I said, ‘look after the players and the salaries of the players.’ ”
A former rugby player who later became a football administrator in Ghana, his home country, Mensah told the Zimbabwean players that he appealed to President Mnangagwa to avail equal opportunities to rugby.
“The Sables are the champions of Africa. If you invest in the boys, in the girls, the laaities (young men in Afrikaans), the Sables, the return on investment is there for us to see.
“You are champions and you’re representing not just yourselves, but the whole of Africa and that was my point to His Excellency. He nodded, and in his speech, he said all the applications we’ve put, he will support them in entirety so pay the players, pay the technical team, pay for the team to now go on tours, fix grounds so that I can bring in teams. That for me is critical and yesterday therefore was incredibly humbling and a successful meeting with the President and your Deputy Minister of Sports, Emily Jesaya. Everybody is supporting you. It’s now over to you guys.”
Mensah also spoke to the players about the importance of strengthening Zimbabwe’s rugby infrastructure, particularly the upgrading of Harare’s historic Police Grounds, once the country’s premier rugby stadium.
Interestingly, the venue hosted Africa’s qualification competition for the 1991 Rugby World Cup — the Sables’ last appearance at the tournament before their recent qualification for Australia 2027.
“You have to incorporate everybody who can help,” said Mensah.
“If you run a business, you’re looking at the infrastructure so I said, ‘we need to rebuild the Police Grounds, so it can be ready for international matches for Zimbabwe today’.”
Mensah also praised the players’ natural ability and encouraged them to seize the opportunity of representing Africa on the global stage.
“Don’t forget, Zimbabweans have a natural gift,” he said. “Nobody teaches you how to step, and move, and how to coordinate and play the game of rugby. We can’t teach you guys. It’s part of your DNA. My last fight in the last Executive Board (of World Rugby) meeting was to point out the fact that we need to support Zimbabwe. We need people to be prepared…tough one. We have people like Mark Alexander (SA Rugby President) who are ready to help.”
Mensah’s special advisor, the Zimbabwean-born David Gilbert, said Zimbabwe had a unique advantage with influential figures connected to the country working within the global rugby system.
“Guys, you have a very unfair advantage, in terms of your opportunity, to the rest of Africa, you have two people involved with World Rugby and Rugby Africa, that have Zimbabwean heritage,” said Gilbert.
“It’s quite an extraordinary coincidence that you have two people sitting in this room, involved with World Rugby, that are Zimbabweans. We are not foreigners to the country. So you do have an advantage and you have the passion from us to make it happen. As Herbert said, it now sits with you.”
Zimbabwe Rugby Union General Manager Takunda Chifokoyo thanked Mensah for the visit and commitment to the growth of rugby in the country.
“This is something we can relish for the rest of our rugby careers,” said Chifokoyo.
“I think this is really what we are looking for. He (Mensah) has imparted freely. Without a doubt, the impact of the intervention by Rugby Africa, Mr Mensah, Mr Gilbert, Steph Nel, World Rugby…we are starting to see tangible changes, we can see them. So for us, as players, as Zimbabwe rugby, everything is now in your hands, to show the world what we are capable of. Let’s go out there, let’s embrace the challenge. You’ve nothing to lose, we’ve made it to the World Cup. We just want to show everybody that we can do this again, again, again.”
Written by Enock Muchinjo
