Eswatini backs Mensah in for Rugby presidency
MBABANE – Rugby in Africa has a new President in the name of Ghanaian Herbert Mensah.
Mensah has been elected as the new Chief of Rugby Afrique, governing body of Rugby in Africa, following the conclusion of the Rugby Africa Executive Committee Elections held last Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa.
Eswatini under the Eswatini Rugby Union (ERU) was represented by the sport’s President Simanga Magagula who voted for Mensah on behalf of the country in the Rugby Afrique General Assembly.
“As Eswatini Rugby Union we are delighted and we welcome the developments. The changes came at the right time because as Eswatini Rugby we are currently in the mission of pushing female rugby at almost the same level as male rugby and to increase our international participation in order to grow the sport within the country and luckily the newly-elected executive shares the same goals,” he said.
Rugby Afrique is the administrative body for rugby unions within the continent of Africa under the authority of World Rugby, which is the world governing body.
Touranaments
As of 2018, Rugby Afrique has 37 member nations and runs several rugby tournaments for national teams, including the Africa Cup which is the main 15-a-side competition for African national teams.
Magagula also mentioned that after the elections all the Southern Region countries met and formed the Commonwealth Southern African Rugby Union (COSARU), which will solely focus on the development of rugby in the southern region of Africa.
Meanwhile, Eswatini rugby national team, Sizeze recently visited Botswana, where they were defeated 3 -111 by a club called Vultures in Gaborone, in a first test match last month.