Kennedy Tsimba was labelled a maverick during his rugby playing days and with good reason. He could change the outcome of any game in seconds.

One of his best qualities as a player was the ability to think on his feet. He never shied away from trying something new. When he did so, it paid dividends — points on the scoreboard. Every so often, it was Tsimba himself that scored.

Therefore, it is no surprise that he is the player who was the quickest to score 1000 points in all competitions (Currie Cup, Vodacom Cup and Super Rugby). In 2012 Tsimba was inducted in the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

The former Zimbabwean test player’s talents are not going to waste. He has taken on the role of TuksRugby’s Young Guns coach. It could be challenging. Quite a few of the under-20 players had no opportunity to play rugby last year due to the Covid Pandemic. Tsimba, however, firmly believes no challenge is insurmountable. It is about first things first.

“I think the players must get to adapt to what it takes to play rugby at a university level. When they were at school, they got to know their teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. Now it is totally different. The players basically know very little about each other,” he remarked.

Tsimba explained his own role as to win every players confidence so he could learn what their respective strengths are. Something that stood him to good stead was playing for the Cheetahs when Rassie Erasmus was the captain. He allowed his players to express themselves – to make decisions and be innovative. He is going to encourage this.

“I think it might still take a week or so before we might start to play full-contact rugby. Currently, the focus is on conditioning the players. Then we got to start to reignite their skills. See what is missing and then rectify it. Only then will we start working on possible game plan strategies,” Tsimba explained.

According to Tsimba, he was inspired by how Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber guided the Springboks to win the World Cup Tournament. That is why he took up professional coaching again.

Tsimba started his coaching career as an assistant coach with the FreeState Cheetahs SuperRugby team in 2011 before assuming the role of coach of Rustenburg Impala’s first-team. He was also their Academy head. The team went on to win the South African Community Tournament twice.

He then went to work as Director of Rugby and first-team coach at St Alban’s College in Pretoria for three years. The team had a record winning streak in 2019, losing only two games. Simon Miller also became the first St Alban’s player to be selected for the South African Schools team.

“I purposely chose to go from professional coaching to club rugby and then schools rugby. I wanted to work with different types of players to better understand the dynamics of rugby. It has helped me to broaden my vision as coach,” Tsimba concluded.

In his playing days, Tsimba played 97 games for the Cheetahs and 25 times for the Blue Bulls. Kennedy ensured his legacy in Zimbabwean rugby when he became the first black player to captain the Sables in September 1998. He also represented his country at Rugby World Cup Sevens 1997 in Hong Kong.

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