LONG READ Pieter Benade: 'We Zimbabweans are agile, we can run - we want to show the world what a small nation can do'

December 2023. Zimbabwean great Brendon Dawson resigned from his role as head coach, kicking off the hunt for the next Sables leader.

Come March, 42-year-old Pieter Benade was chosen to lead his country, a country that hadn’t qualified for a World Cup since 1991 and hadn’t enjoyed the sweet taste of a Rugby Africa Cup win for 12 years.

Just four months later, Zimbabwe not only ended their Rugby Africa Cup drought but also beat Namibia for the first time in 24 years. The fairytale start for Benade had begun with a simple raising of his hand.

“I think all countries go through a difficult phase when you don’t qualify for the World Cup,” he tells RugbyPass. “There’s a long period of uncertainty and waiting. It was during that period that Brendon Dawson stepped aside, and so I put my hand in the air. I got the opportunity to coach Zimbabwe, and I will always be thankful for it.”

Benade had also donned the Zimbabwe shirt during the 2000s while playing club and provincial rugby in South Africa.

“At the time, we were going through a difficult political period, but I returned home whenever I could and kept in touch with the people back in Zimbabwe. Being able to contribute in this way to a sport that I love, to a country which is mine, was and will always be special.”

Born in Chegutu and raised in Harare, Benade seemed destined to get involved in rugby, recalling his first steps in a sport that has been his passion and work for decades.

“I was pretty athletic when I was a young boy. I could run around, and I enjoyed avoiding people, which led me to become a fly-half! As I grew older, I developed an obsession with playing and comprehending the game. I was a student in that sense.”

Benade played in France for Limoges while enjoying a few years as a member of the Western Province setup, developing a deep understanding of the game.

“I was always involved with coaching, even when I was still playing. When I was injured, I would help age-group teams, whether at my school or at my club. After retiring, I began assisting the third team at my local club, and as the years passed, I worked my way through the ranks. My coaching journey started at the start.”

When you have someone like Ian Prior, who has more than 100 Super Rugby caps, you want them to be mentally in a good place, having discussions with them about the way they see things.

But his hunger to understand the game wasn’t only to satisfy his curiosity, as Benade wanted to deliver the best possible platform for players to flourish and develop.

“As you creep up the levels, your focus is to try to improve someone who is already an excellent player. In that sense, when you have someone like Ian Prior, who has more than 100 Super Rugby caps, you want them to be mentally in a good place, having discussions with them about the way they see things. You need to assure them that everything is fine and hope they go out and perform.”

After enjoying more than 10 years as a coach in Cape Town’s False Bay and the Rondebosch Boys’ and Wynberg Boys’ High Schools, the moment to return to his country of birth came in 2022.

“Zimbabwe was in Stellenbosch to compete in the Stellenbosch Challenge, and as the coaches had to leave to get back to their jobs, I offered to help. It was my initiation as an assistant coach, 15 years after I had played my last game as a player.”

He worked with the Sables for 18 months as an assistant coach before taking on the top job. Widely written off as African Cup contenders, Zimbabwe embarked on a run of 13 consecutive wins, culminating in two titles.

“We give a lot of trust to the players, as they own that trust. They deserve to be comfortable in the roles once they have performed their duties. For us, clarity and honesty are key to the process, and people usually respond to that approach well.

“The goal of every coach is to impact people and help that individual reach their full potential. Ian Prior, for example, was playing great rugby when he first joined us, and he still is, and I hope he has a few more months in his legs. As a coach, I don’t know everything, so when a player has something valuable to say, we listen, like Ian Prior. My job is to bring people to this environment and provide answers.”

Zimbabwe’s long-awaited reawakening began with two warm-up wins against Zambia before they claimed a 22-20 win over Uganda in the quarter-finals of the Rugby Africa Cup.

Our community has been fantastic, and I have never seen so much energy in the country as I’ve seen for the past year.

And who was the next team in line, waiting for them in the semi-final? The all-powerful, World Cup-experienced Namibia. However, on 24^th July the Sables pulled off the incredible.

“We were battle-hardened for that game, and there was a belief we were putting in the work,” Benade says. “We kept saying if we performed well, special things would happen. From the kick-off, the boys were in a great mindset. They were able to express themselves, and in the end, we ended up providing a special day to Zimbabwean rugby.”

With fans enjoying their first continental title since the early 2010s, Benade and his team understood the job wasn’t done and that 2025 was just around the corner.

This time around, Sables and Welwitschias met in an all-or-nothing final, but the result was still the same: a Zimbabwe victory and with it, World Cup qualification. For Benade, the final stages were fraught with drama as Namibia could’ve regained the lead with a penalty which sailed wide.

“It was more a sense of relief than jubilation, especially as with two minutes to full-time, Namibia had a shot at goal that could’ve changed the outcome.

“We had been working towards this goal for the last two years, and to finally cross the finishing line was quite a special and overwhelming experience.”

A new dawn had broken in Zimbabwe, electrifying a whole rugby fanbase which had eagerly awaited these days and never given up in its fight for a brighter tomorrow.

“Our success in the Africa Rugby Cup has been great for everyone, as we have experienced good crowds in our home games since then. Our community has been fantastic, and I have never seen so much energy in the country as I’ve seen for the past year.”

But beyond his coaching style and the way the team worked in unison, Benade reveals Zimbabwe’s success stems from the country’s vibrant mix of players and cultures.

We are a diverse group of individuals with different views and backgrounds. We do have a thing that is shared with every single Zimbabwan player: we can run!

“We are an exciting melting pot. From local players to guys who went overseas to play, to those who share Zimbabwean ancestry, we are a diverse group of individuals with different views and backgrounds. We do have a thing that is shared with every single Zimbabwan player: we can run!

“That’s our strength as Africans. Being athletic, agile and fast are some of our core attributes, and we just need to tie them to the important parts of Test rugby, if we want to keep pushing and going the extra mile.”

With that passionate melting pot on their side, Benade hopes Zimbabwe can go from strength to strength over the next 16 months without losing sight of its long-term goals.

“We want to maintain momentum by winning, but at the same time, we have long-term goals, like qualifying for the 2031 World Cup. We have one eye on developing a group that can arrive in 2029 and help us qualify for the next World Cup. But at the same time, there’s a lot of history to be made in the Nations Cup and World Cup, where we will be picking the best players regardless of their age.”

 

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Zimbabwe will face Tonga, the USA and Canada in the opening three rounds of the Nations Cup in July. For the Sables head coach, the inaugural competition is a step in the right direction.

“We are very grateful for having the chance to compete in the Nations Cup. The previous World Cup qualifiers never had this opportunity to prepare as best as possible for a World Cup. In my opinion, it was a very good step by World Rugby. Helping these nations experience high-level competition is great for everyone.

“Hopefully, every team becomes more competitive because of the Nations Cup. We want to try to put our best foot forward when we get to the big competition, which is the World Cup, so it is great for us. Hopefully, we can host some games in the future!”

As for the World Cup, the coach wants his team to be inspired by Portugal and Uruguay’s recent stories, feeling it’s their turn to win the people’s hearts.

“If we get the best group together and are aligned, we can make a lot of people at home happy and show the world what a small nation like us can do. We are going to punch above our weight, and I hope people will get behind us, because of the brand of rugby we play.”

Pieter Benade wants to show how special Zimbabwe is, with its culture and people, and these global events are his platform.

“We are rugby people at heart. There’s a deep, deep rugby history in our country dating back decades and decades. Rugby is in our blood, and we hope fans get to witness that.”