Africa is home to the Rugby World Cup champion again. But the newly crowned Springboks aren’t a true representation of African rugby. Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah says African rugby struggles to be competitive and is a gold mine of talent without the means to unearth it.
FILE - Namibia players waves the fans after the Rugby World Cup Pool A match between Uruguay and Namibia at the OL Stadium in Lyon, France, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. African rugby struggles to be competitive, and is a gold mine of talent without the means to unearth it. Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah welcomed the decision this week to expand the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia from 20 teams to 24.
“We are a continent of 1.4 billion people, with some of the most talented athletes in the world. But we simply don’t have the investments to be able to compete at the levels that we need to compete,” said Mensah, who was from Ghana and elected Rugby Africa president in March. The Namibians are still chasing their first match win after appearing in seven Rugby World Cups. They lost all four in France to extend the tournament’s longest losing run to 26 matches.
“There’s a lot of heart in the team to build on,” outgoing Namibia coach Allister Coetzee said at the Rugby World Cup. “But we can’t build after we qualify. We’ve got to build as soon as possible from next year. The only other African countries to compete at the Rugby World Cup were Zimbabwe in 1987 and 1991 and Ivory Coast in 1995. They went a combined 0-9.
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