2026 Nations Cup will be a 'game-changer' for Zimbabwe rugby

Zimbabwe’s World Cup qualification hero Ian Prior believes that the World Rugby Nations Cup will be a ‘game-changer’ for Zimbabwean rugby, as the men’s national team prepares to make its return to the Rugby World Cup stage after a 36-year absence in Australia in 2027.

Zimbabwe, whose last World Cup appearance was back in 1991, secured their place at the expanded 24-team tournament in Australia after successfully defending their Africa Cup title with a thrilling 30-28 win over Namibia in Namboole, Uganda last Saturday.

The first iteration of World Rugby’s biennial Nations Cup competiton will start next year, with the Sables competing in the Second Division, by virtue of their qualification for the 2027 World Cup.

Before Zimbabwe won the first of their back-to-back Africa Cup titles in 2024, Tests against higher calibre opposition had been scarce. But the Nations Cup will give the Sables a good indication of how much ground they have to make up before their World Cup return.

While the line-up for the Nations Cup has yet to be confirmed, the Second Division will include the other five teams to have secured their ticket to Australia through the regional qualifiers: Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania from Europe and Rugby Asia champions Hong Kong China.

“We’re in discussions to do another November tour (Zimbabwe went to Asia to play South Korea and UAE last year), and then there’s the Nations Cup,” said Prior, a Super Rugby winner with the Queensland Reds.

“To be a part of that and to play against teams ranked between 12 and 24, that will be a game-changer in terms of exposure for our players and staff.”

Once a Junior Wallaby, who played for the country of his birth at the U20s World Championship in 2010, Prior pledged his allegiance to Zimbabwe, where his parents were born, at the start of last year’s Africa Cup campaign.

Seven caps later, the 35-year-old has yet to be on the losing side, has two Africa Cup winner’s medals and is now looking forward to potentially playing at the World Cup on home soil.

Prior was Zimbabwe’s single biggest contributor in this season’s title-winning campaign, scoring 52 points – just over half of the Sables’ overall total – in the wins over Senegal, Kenya and latterly Namibia.

However, the half-back credits head coach and former Currie Cup player, Pieter Benade, and people behind the scenes such as Kisset Chirengende, a sports executive with the Sharks in South Africa, and Lindsay Earle, the person in charge of the Sables’ Trust, for bringing it all together off the field and creating an enivornment and a pathway that has allowed Zimbabwe’s players to thrive.

“About 18 months ago, they got together and came up with a plan, believing that there was enough talent in Zimbabwe and sprinkled around the world to put together a really competitive side if we could get some of the guys to come back and work hard and spend more time together,” he said.

Zimbabwe have risen to an all-time high of 24th in the world rankings as a result of their recent triumph, and Prior believes there is still enormous potential for growth if the player drain that has happened in the past can be averted.

South Africa’s Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira and Australia’s David Pocock are two of the more high-profile examples of Zimbabwe-born players who’ve chased their dreams of playing international rugby elsewhere.

“I don’t think Zim played a Test match in 2023, after missing out on World Cup qualification in 2022, so getting more frequent Tests and implementing a structure for home-bssed players that allows them to go all the way through from the U16s through to the Sables, without having to go overseas to chase Test rugby, is really important,” said Prior.

“There is certainly enough talent here. I was lucky enough to go and watch a local first XV game beteeen St John’s and Falcon and there was a young guy there, a young 10, who was kicking 53-metre drop goals; he was only 18. An immense talent.

“You only have to see what World Rugby has done with Fiji and the Drua (the home-based Fijian Super Rugby team). Developing that pathway and talent can set Zimbabwe rugby up for the next generation.”

Greater cohesion and a settled coaching and playing group, as well as the introduction of players like Prior, who has over 100 Super Rugby appearances behind him from time at the Reds, Brumbies and the Force, has helped to grow belief within the Sables’ camp.

“We had a mixture of guys in the team who’d been through a few campaigns and unfortunately had come up short. And we’ve got a few guys who’ve gone through and won the u20s African Cup. So I think there was just a deep sense of belief,” he said, giving an insight into the Zimbabwean mentality going into last weekend’s final.

“During the week we had a quiet confidence about us. I don’t think anyone wanted us to say it out load for fear of jinxing us. But we felt like it was our time to write a new chapter in Zimbabwe rugby’s history and we had earned the right to be here.

“There was a lot of relief, a lot of jubilation in the changing room afterwards, that we’d finally done it.”