WORLD Rugby Services manager for Africa Steph Nei is in the country for a union review and capacity building meeting aimed at ensuring sustainable growth and development of the game in the country.
Nei is accompanied by World Rugby Coach and Get Into Rugby Coordinator for Central and Southern Africa, who is also a World Rugby Referee Educator.
Speaking when he joined about 50 boys and girls at Lusaka Rugby Club on Sunday morning,Nei expressed delight at the level of interest from the young ruggers.
“It is always a pleasure to see the future of African Rugby being shaped. Zambia like most countries has made significant strides towards increasing the number of participants in the game at all levels such as Youths, Girls/Women and also the Men folk” he said.
He said the country had plenty of potential to put its mark on the Continental and International platforms especially in the area of Women’s rugby.
“The introduction of the Women’s World Cup has given hope to a lot of Countries and Zambia Rugby must take advantage of this competition to make the global eyes see what it has in store,” he said.
Some of the capacity building activities lined up include Get Into Rugby review, Level 2 Coach and Referee Training, Level 1 Coaching Children Program, Introduction of Activate, and the I Also Play Referee Program.
Zambia Rugby Union president Clement Sinkamba, who is also newly elected Executive Committee Member of Africa Rugby, called on all Rugby Coaches and Referees who had been invited to attend the workshop to ensure they take full advantage of the visit by the high level delegation.
“The game is evolving all the time hence we want to make sure our Coaches and Referees are well educated so they can position themselves for current and future trends, we have lagged behind for too long but from now onwards, it’s full throttle ahead” he said.