NEWLY-CROWNED Rugby Africa Champions, Zimbabwe Sables, arrived home to a heroes welcome at the Robert Mugabe International Airport yesterday.
The Sables must defend their title next year to get an automatic qualification to the 2027 World Cup with the runner-up going for the repechage.
Fans, family and friends of the Sables thronged the airport to welcome their heroes back home as they touched down just before midday with a huge glittering piece of silverware to show.
Even in the absence of drum-beating ensemble, the Sables who mastered the art of war songs belted their favourite motivational hunting melodies on their own.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union technical director, Godwin Murambiwa, officially welcomed the heroes home, thanking them for a stellar job in Kampala.
Sables head coach, Piet Benade, a former Prince Edward schoolboy thanked his former mentor at school Murambiwa for the guidance.
“This is just from the technical side; coach Godwin, you have been a mentor of mine for many years. Just the guidance I have received from you and the support, obviously. And then I can just thank the boys and the assistant coaches for all the work that they put in,” Benade said.
“And, obviously the trust, every single person, all the wives, the girlfriends, there is a separation there. We have supported and let the men go to work and go to practices. The children who have had fathers away for the past month or so, we want to thank the families for their support.
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“We are looking forward to hopefully having a couple more days like this, where we can be joined by a lot of other people. People that we don't know, they know the responsibility. We accept their responsibility, so thank you guys very much.”
Benade added that Lady Luck was on their side right from the first win against hosts Uganda in their first match of the tournament. The Sables edged the Cranes of Uganda 22-20, outclassed six-time defending champions Namibia 32-10 and Algeria 29-3 to lift the trophy.
“I think we could have easily tripped up against Uganda. In these tournaments, you always need a little bit of luck. We knew our preparation was perhaps not as tough as it could have been. So, to go out and to handle the hosts in the first outing was very challenging,” he said.
“Obviously from that, going into Namibia, that was probably our best performance of the tournament. And then I think the boys playing their third match in eight days, probably led to the quality of the final not being what we would have liked. But in those matches, you just need to find a way to win.”
Captain Hilton Mudariki said the victory boils down to a refreshing and experienced dressing room.
“We have a quality team, I think you saw that we have got great coaches, I mean quality guys who have come in and fought in one corner to achieve the results no matter how long we had waited for this.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa congratulated the team on its victory, opening the door for the Sables management to go and knock on his door for financial and material support ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifier.
"Congratulations to the Zimbabwe Sables on winning the Rugby Africa Cup 2024. We are all proud of you," he wrote on his social media handle.
The Sables will be targeting only their second World Cup appearance when they contest the same competition next year.
They know that defending it will be tough, but for now they will enjoy their moment in the sun before starting to play for next year.
After their success in the Africa Cup the Zimbabwe 15s side moved up two rungs on the World Rugby rankings to 28.
