If Zimbabwe Wants Rugby Glory, We Must Play All Year Round

Now that Zimbabwe is back in the Rugby World Cup final 2027, countries that dominate the world rugby stage share one common trait, they play the sport throughout the year. Whether it is New Zealand, South Africa, England or France, rugby is embedded into the school calendar and the national psyche. Young players do not simply pick up a rugby ball for a term, play a handful of matches, and then hang up their boots until the following year. Instead, they live and breathe the sport, training, competing and honing their skills for months on end.

In Zimbabwe, however, the reality could not be more different. At most schools, rugby is confined to a short three-and-a-half-month window, usually squeezed into the second term. Once the term ends, the season is over. The fields grow quiet, the balls gather dust and promising talent is left to fade while our young athletes focus on other sports or no sport at all.

The consequence is obvious, our players never get the chance to reach their full potential. Rugby is a skill-based, tactical and physical game. Mastering its complexities requires time, hours upon hours of drills, matches and fitness work. In the leading rugby nations, schoolboys and schoolgirls often log hundreds of hours of structured play each year before they even reach adulthood. By contrast, a Zimbabwean school rugby player might only get a fraction of that experience over the course of their entire school career.

If Zimbabwe is serious about becoming the rugby powerhouse many of us dream of, the first and most urgent change must be extending the school rugby season. Rugby should be played across all three terms, with different formats to keep the sport fresh and to avoid player burnout. For example, the traditional 15-a-side game could dominate the main season, while sevens rugby and touch rugby could be introduced during the off-season months. This approach would keep players engaged, improve overall fitness and develop versatile skills.

Moreover, an all-year rugby programme would allow coaches more time to work on player development. Skills such as tackling technique, decision-making under pressure and positional awareness cannot be mastered in just a few weeks. Longer seasons also create space for strength and conditioning work, injury prevention programmes and mental preparation, these are all vital aspects of modern rugby.

The benefits extend beyond the field. Year-round rugby would instil discipline, teamwork and resilience in our youth. It would also create a stronger culture of the sport, where communities rally around school games and local clubs thrive. The more rugby is played, the more it becomes part of the national sporting identity.

Critics may argue that schools need to balance rugby with other sports. That is true, but the answer is not to limit rugby to a single term – it is to schedule it creatively, integrating it alongside other disciplines. Successful sporting nations understand that variety is possible without sacrificing intensity or commitment.

The question is not whether Zimbabwe has rugby talent? we do. The question is whether we are willing to nurture it properly. Playing rugby for only three and a half months a year will never make us world-beaters. If we want to compete with the best, we must follow the example of those who already are the best and make rugby a year-round passion, not a seasonal hobby.

Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi
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