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Cyprian “Supa” Mandenge

Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
The Sables might have suffered a record loss at the hands of Kenya last weekend, but that came as a tough lesson for the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, who have since managed to lure Poland to tour Zimbabwe for a series of Test matches next February.

Over the past years, the Sables have not been afforded enough preparation ahead of serious Test matches and the impact was felt last Saturday when Kenya — who had played eight games before touring this country — made a meal of coach Cyprian “Supa” Mandenge’s charges.

However, two months into office, the new ZRU board led by Nyararai Sibanda believes there is need to give the flagship rugby side all the attention they deserve if the standard of local rugby is to improve.

“It’s a fact Kenya have had more preparations than us as they played eight games before playing us. The Africa Cup is out of the way, but I am happy to say that we have engaged Poland and they will be coming into Zimbabwe on the third of February (2017) so that will be the start of many of the matches we will play before the next International season.

“So we are hoping with the coming of Poland we will pick up one or two other Tests and we are looking at playing more European teams because I think playing those teams will give us more game time,” said ZRU vice-president Nody Kanyangarara.

However, Kanyangarara said that they are largely interested in playing against Europeans and Asian teams whose game has been on the rise compared to African opposition.

The Sables are also expected to travel to Hong Kong towards the end of the year for an invitational tournament.

“We have also been invited to Hong Kong in November so that means we have another three or four Tests and that is a very important tournament for us and that will mark the beginning of preparations for 2017.”

With Sables coach, Mandenge, expressing concern over the fact that some foreign-based white players were not willing to play for the Sables since his predecessor Brandon Dawson’s contract was not renewed, Kanyangarara said the Union was engaging them to try and regain their confidence.

“There obviously has been a disconnect between the players and the Union and that is something we have started bridging and building the player base because the players had issues, things we are now working on and they now believe in the Union to make sure that the Sables are repositioned.

“It is a fact that players play for coaches and players need to understand that the Union is for them, without the players the Union cannot be there. But it is a process and not an event. There was a huge shift from players that played in Madagascar (under Dawson), two years ago.

“All those players are there. Some are prepared and willing to come and play for the Sables so there is some cleaning up that needs to be done due to that disconnect between the players and the Union. But from the Hong Kong tournament you will see that there is going to be a huge difference from the way we would have prepared,” Kanyangarara said.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s 61-15 loss at the hands of Kenya has pushed the Sables to sink deeper into the 30’s on the latest World Rugby rankings.

The Sables are now ranked 33rd and were one of the biggest droppers together with Germany and Hong Kong while Kenya rose to their all-time high to 24th as they registered their first win in Zimbabwe in six years.

This was also Zimbabwe’s biggest loss to Kenya as they had never lost by more than six points in all their meetings since 1980.

Kenya produced a superb second-half performance to overpower Zimbabwe 61-15 in Harare and begin their Africa Cup Division 1A campaign in fine style.

With 1.35 rating points awarded to Kenya, the Simbas move up above Belgium and Germany and are now just over two tenths behind Spain.