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Zimbabwe have made two Rugby World Cup appearances – in 1987 and 1991.

In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Zimbabwe's national rugby team was invited as the African entrant. No other African countries were invited, as South Africa was disqualified from the tournament due to a sporting boycott adopted by the international community in response to apartheid.

However, Zimbabwe succeeded in getting through 1991 Rugby World Cup qualifying, and hosted the Africa qualifications. In more recent years, the Namibia national rugby union team has generally defeated Zimbabwe in African qualifying rounds.

Nation	Number of appearances	First appearance	Most recent appearance	Streak	Best result
Zimbabwe	2	1987	1991	2	No games won

Rugby World Cup record											Qualification
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A	Squad	Head coach		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Pool stage	3	0	0	3	53	151	Squad	B. Murphy		Automatically qualified
1991	Pool stage	3	0	0	3	31	158	Squad	I. Buchanan		3	3	0	0	62	12
1995	Did not qualify										6	3	0	3	169	120
1999											5	2	0	3	125	102
2003											2	1	0	1	82	45
2007											4	2	0	2	55	84
2011											1	0	0	1	21	35
2015											6	3	0	3	170	126
2019											5	1	1	3	139	162
2023											5	3	0	2	265	73
Total	—	6	0	0	6	84	309	—	—		37	18	1	18	1088	759
Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place Home venue

Pool 4 games –

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	T	Pts	Qualification
France	3	2	1	0	145	44	+101	25	5[a]	Knockout stage
Scotland	3	2	1	0	135	69	+66	22	5[a]
Romania	3	1	0	2	61	130	−69	6	2
Zimbabwe	3	0	0	3	53	151	−98	5	0

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Pool 2 games –

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Scotland	3	3	0	0	122	36	+86	6
Ireland	3	2	0	1	102	51	+51	4
Japan	3	1	0	2	77	87	−10	2
Zimbabwe	3	0	0	3	31	158	−127	0

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Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Did not qualify.

Country	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	%
Romania	1	0	0	1	20	21	−1	0
Ireland	1	0	0	1	11	55	−44	0
Japan	1	0	0	1	8	52	−44	0
France	1	0	0	1	12	70	−58	0
Scotland	2	0	0	2	33	113	−80	0
TOTAL	6	0	0	6	105	373	−268	0

Most Points in a Tournament

• 53 (1987)
• 31 (1991)

Most Points in a Game

• 21 vs  Scotland (1987)
• 20 vs  Romania (1987)
• 12 vs  Scotland (1991)
• 12 vs  France (1987)

Biggest Winning Margin

NIL

Highest Score Against

• 70 vs  France (1987)
• 60 vs  Scotland (1987)
• 55 vs  Ireland (1991)
• 52 vs  Japan (1991)
• 51 vs  Scotland (1991)

Biggest Losing Margin

• 58 vs  France (1987)
• 44 vs  Ireland (1991)
• 44 vs  Japan (1991)
• 39 vs  Scotland (1987)
• 39 vs  Scotland (1991)

Most Tries in a Game

• 3 vs  Romania (1987)
• 2 vs  Scotland (1991)
• 2 vs  Ireland (1991)
• 2 vs  Japan (1991)

Most appearances

• 6 Michael Martin (1987, 1991)
• 5 Richard Tsimba (1987, 1991)
• 4 Andy Ferreria (1987, 1991)
• 4 Craig Brown (1987, 1991)
• 4 Alex Nicholis (1987, 1991)

Most points overall

• 25 Marthinus Grobler (1987)
• 12 Richard Tsimba (1987, 1991)
• 11 Andy Ferreria (1987, 1991)
• 8 Adrian Garvey (1991)

Most points in a game

• 17 vs  Scotland – Marthinus Grobler (1987)
• 8 vs  Scotland – Adrian Garvey (1991)
• 8 vs  Romania – Andy Ferreria (1987)
• 6 vs  Romania – Richard Tsimba (1987)

Most tries overall

• 2 Richard Tsimba (1987, 1991)
• 2 Adrian Garvey (1991)

Most penalty goals

• 7 Marthinus Grobler (1987)
• 3 Andy Ferreria (1987, 1991)

Most penalty goals in a game

• 5 vs  Scotland – Marthinus Grobler (1987)
• 2 vs  France – Marthinus Grobler (1987)
• 2 vs  Romania – Andy Ferreria (1987)
• 1 vs  Ireland – Andy Ferreria (1991)

• Davies, Gerald (2004) The History of the Rugby World Cup (Sanctuary Publishing Ltd, (ISBN 1860746020)
• Farr-Jones, Nick, (2003). Story of the Rugby World Cup, Australian Post Corporation, (ISBN 0-642-36811-2)