Sables move up on rugby rankings
MICHAEL KARIATI
Zimbabwe’s national rugby team, the Sables, have moved two places up on the latest World Rugby rankings as a result of their success at the 2024 Rugby Africa Cup.
The Sables moved up to 28th place from 30th place in the standings this week following their 29-3 victory over Algeria in Sunday’s Africa Cup final, surpassing both Brazil and Belgium in the process.
This is the highest position Zimbabwe has held in the world since 2015, when the Sables climbed to 26th place worldwide and have subsequently faced inconsistent results.
The latest development is that the winner of the Africa Cup will get a substantial financial incentive from both Africa Rugby and World Rugby in addition to important world ranking points.
In fact, the Zimbabwe Sables are among the biggest climbers on the world rankings alongside Algeria who have moved six places up to 58th and Senegal who too moved six places up to 56th.
Tapiwa Mafura was undoubtedly the Zimbabwean star of the show at the continental rugby tournament in Uganda.
Zimbabwe, however, remain behind Namibia who have fallen just one slot down to 25th despite their heavy 32-10 loss at the hands of the Sables.
The Namibians kept their top African ranking intact after defeating Kenya 38-27 in the Africa Cup bronze medal play off.
Sables captain Hilton Mudariki says their focus is now on qualifying for the 2027 World Cup to be held in England.
“We have a strong team of youth and experience. If we stay together and with more international friendly matches, we will qualify for the World Cup finals,” Mudariki said.
Mudariki appealed for support from all to make the World Cup journey a reality, ” Everything is going on well because of the support we are receiving both at home and abroad. The government too should also keep up their support,” appealed Mudariki.
Zimbabwe are bidding to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1991 when Richard Tsimba made the world sit up and take notice with inspired and capricious play.
Since then the Sables have seen the Africa World Cup slot go to Ivory Coast in 1995 before Namibia took over the show from 1999 to 2023.
World champions South Africa remain the world’s top ranked rugby team followed by Ireland and the All Blacks of New Zealand.
