The Sunday Mail
Sports Editor
BOUYANT Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU), riding on the crest of successfully hosting neighbours Zambia for back-to-back international friendlies, have now set their sights on the return of the domestic league.
Local club rugby action has been frozen since the Covid-19 outbreak. Rugby was listed as one of the high-risk sporting disciplines.
However, after consultations with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) subsequently issued guidelines on the safe return of sport. ZRU have been trying to follow the guidelines to the letter.
Last week, they became the first association dealing with team sports to host three national teams at the same venue on the same days.
As if to add some icing on their cake, which had been boosted by the unveiling of sponsorship packages for the Sables, women’s and men’s Under-20 teams, Zimbabwe dominated the visitors in the matches at Machinery Exchange Stadium at Harare Sports Club. Crucially, too, for the ZRU is that while both the Sables and Young Sables won their encounters and the women narrowly lost, they also scored administratively, emerging from the matches without any Covid-19-related incidences.
This has left ZRU chief executive officer Sifiso Made purring. He believes that by successfully hosting the three Zambian national teams and their delegations under strict Covid-19 protocols, the union showed their pedigree to undertake a safe return of elite club rugby.
“Everyone involved worked hard to ensure we had an incident-free week of international rugby fixtures, which involved our national Under-20, women’s and senior men’s team on two occasions — which was Wednesday and Saturday (June 2 and June 5) — at Machinery Exchange Stadium,” said Made.
“It is important to note that all Covid-19 protocols were observed and we took every step to ensure that everyone coming for those matches, whether players, technical crews, media or officials, abided by the laid down protocols.”
He said these are the same guidelines ZRU has been urging clubs to observe. The union plans to submit its application for the safe return of elite rugby.
“We have some important World Cup and Barthes Cup qualifying fixtures for our senior and junior men’s national teams, and it is only through the return of club rugby that the coaches can have a wide selection base from which to pick their squads. It is only through the return of club rugby in a league format that our players can have the time on the field, which they desperately need in order to perfect on their game and gain competitive match fitness, as we have not had an opportunity to play a lot of international fixtures.”
The national league would have to first resume without the fans until the authorities deem it safe to have spectators back, he added.
Sables coach Brendan Dawson had been hoping to continue the build-up to next month’s Africa Cup campaign with a date against Namibia’s Welwitschias, which had been pencilled in for the Machinery Exchange Stadium yesterday. The Welwitschias are a team that mainly consist of players who play club rugby for teams in Namibia.
They are regarded as a development side for Namibia’s senior men’s team. That match was, however, called off after Namibia went into another Covid-19-induced national lockdown two weeks ago, which meant the team could no longer travel to Harare for what would have been another international friendly for the Sables.
Given that Namibia have been to the last six editions of the World Cup, they were expected to give Dawson’s men a much tougher test and a better reality check on the progress they have made since they resumed training. Made said ZRU are now exploring the possibility of the Sables playing more games in South Africa before they leave for Tunis for the Africa Cup Pool D games.
