The new Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah wants World Rugby to start looking at Africa from a different prism and mindset in terms of the game’s development and change.
At the same time, Mensah wants Africa structurally broken into regional zones with new rugby competitions introduced so as to bridge the gap between South Africa, Namibia and the rest of the continent.
Mensah said that his mantra has been his relentless change of mindset change that comes internally and externally in Africa’s relationship with World Rugby.
“I have asked World Rugby that they need to understand and respect that there is new sheriff in town with a new vision and new way forwards,” said Mensah.
Mensah said World Rugby’s approach in the development of rugby on the continental must have a fresh approach since the old way of doing things hasn’t changed the landscape.
“That mindset change is saying don’t go with the old formula that says that this is what we need to do for Africa,” said Mensah, explaining that while the global world of sports has changed and moving forward, Africa was retrogressing.
Mensah said it’s possible to bridge the gap between South Africa and the rest, but that will require massive structural change in development.
Mensah was speaking during the NTV’s Monday night live sports show SportOn! hosted by Bernard Ndong and James Wokabi.
“It’s possible and a debate is going on but we need to have good leadership that has dreams and visions in every member state,” said Mensah, adding that the regional flagship should lead to push governments, World Rugby and sponsors to step in.
Mensah said in 2024 he is looking forward to a revamped Victoria Cup that involves Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe in addition to other new regional events.
The Victoria Cup was not played from 2012 to 2018, but was revived in 2019 with Zambia being brought on board.
Mensah explained that if the Six Nations Championships involving England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales can have up to 12 test matches, then Africa too can adopt such a format.
“Africa has none and it doesn’t benefit Kenya to play Burundi. They should play at a high level and consistently to get the best results,” said Mensah, who ranked Kenya second after South Africa in terms of rugby development.
“There is Namibia but history has shown that given the level of support over a period financially from World Rugby and elsewhere, Kenya is really good as it gets,” said Mensah.
”We can’t go into the future thinking and behaving the same if we are looking for equity for Africa.”
Mensah said he will push and fight for areas where they will require more assistance from World Rugby, but fundamentally Rugby Africa members have to explore the relationships they have with their governments in terms of funding.
“Kenya is great, no doubt about that, but I don’t want the country to become like England where the talk is we won the World Cup in 1966. I want to hear that Kenya is going to the World Cup in 2027,” said Mensah, who wants World Rugby to triple its funding to Rugby Africa from US$ 2.25m.
