Lesotho women recruited to Cheetahs

When someone asked me a few years ago what my long-term goals were for Lesotho Rugby, I said three things:

1.     I want to see a Masotho playing for a professional team in South Africa

2.     I want to see Lesotho competing in the Commonwealth Games

3.     I want to see a Masotho playing for the Springboks

I’m pleased to say that we have moved a step closer to the first of those goals. On 22 July a Womens Kingdom Select team competed in the Free State Provincial Trials, beating the Wolverines in a close fought game 5-0. 

Three Basotho women were selected to join the women’s Cheetah’s squad: Mokiase Phasumane (scrum half, Lesea Wolves), Reitumetse Motsieloa (inside centre, Lesea Wolves), and the Academy’s very own Palesa Pitso (hooker, Maseru Warriors).

Women’s rugby in South Africa remains underdeveloped compared to many European countries, with limited funding, and there is still some way to go in professionalising the female game.

The Federation of Lesotho Rugby has been pushing women’s rugby hard in Lesotho as a means to promoting gender equality, and its fantastic to see these efforts pay off. All three players are products of the Lesotho Rugby Academy, with the majority of the 40-strong Select squad also first picking up the sport through our programme. 

Cheetahs beat their Free State rivals the Griffons 77-10.

When I listed my goals for Lesotho Rugby I didn’t think it would be Lesotho’s women leading the way, and I’m immensely proud of the team in Lesotho for its efforts to promote gender equality through rugby, to give opportunities to these women, and to the players themselves for the dedication and commitment that has got them this far.

This comes at a particularly poignant time for women’s rugby in Lesotho, just a month after 5 of the country’s future female stars lost their lives on their way to an U16 match in Bloemfontein. In my mind there could be no more fitting tribute.