INTERVIEW: Zimbabwe prop Cleopas Kundiona talks about life at Northampton Saints

By northamptonchron.co.uk

The Zimbabwe tighthead prop has made himself at home at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, having moved to Northampton from French second division side USON Nevers during the summer.

He has racked up six appearances so far, and would most likely have had more outings had he not suffered an injury on debut at Gloucester back in early October.

But Kundiona is back fit now and has been playing his part in a hat-trick of recent wins.

He recently sat down with this publication to discuss life at Saints as well as a variety of other subjects.

Here is the full question and answer session…

Q: Has life at Saints been what you expected so far?

A: “I’m not saying I’m surprised but the thing that surprised me a lot about the boys is just how on it they are. At training, they really push the standards and they expect a high standard, and even after training the way they review and look at the microdetails and say ‘you need to do this,’ that did kind of catch me off guard. But they put in so much work it’s nice to be a part of because it’s just raising up the standard all the time.”

Q: Is being at Saints helping you to get better as a player?

A: “It 100 per cent makes me better as a player because there are certain things – all microdetails – that I didn’t look at in the past. Now you analyse the game differently, you look at the game differently (such as) where you move, where you are and how you can impact the game differently by just adjusting small things.

After you review that’s when I see where I have been going wrong because obviously at the beginning there were a lot of things I had to fix. I had a lot of chats with the coaches in terms of things that I had to do in order to get myself in a good place to help the team. Now I can kind of see this was the reason why he was telling me I need to do this, because when I do this right, it helps the man beside me to be able to do his job, it’s just kind of a domino effect. It is something I’ve been learning but it’s a good process.”

Q: Have you made any physical changes since you arrived?

A: “We do gym a lot, yeah! I like the gym but we do gym a lot and physically I think I’m kind of still the same. I haven’t changed much, but the technical things I was talking about, like maybe defensively, the ‘hip-to-hip’ where we’re trying to hit someone together, I didn’t know about. We have to be hip-to-hip where my outside leg and your outside leg have to form a seam, for someone to not be able to put their head there – that way we can force them back.

That was one of the things I didn’t know about, but now because of the way the defence coach here is, he was on to me about it and now I’m like ‘okay, that’s what I need to do when I’m in a defensive situation.’ It’s the same thing with the scrum, where I maybe used to put my foot back twice after the ‘set’. The coaches are now saying: ‘No, you don’t have to do that. Make sure you put your foot back so much so you don’t have to do it twice because it’ll affect everyone else behind you and you won’t be as ready for the hit.’ It’s those little things that before I was new to but I now know they make a big difference.”

Q: How have you found the Gallagher PREM?

A: “It’s a faster league. Obviously, when you come from France you don’t put as much pace into the game, but here we’re always trying to cut the ‘dead time’ to speed up the game. That’s been the major difference, the speed, and just being always alert.”

Q: What’s it been like settling into life in Northampton?

A: “Where I was in Nevers, it was kind of a village and similar weather, so it hasn’t been a drastic change, but to be in a place where people actually speak English is a positive for me because in Nevers it’s just full of French! My wife is from here, so it made things much easier in terms of starting a family, and so forth.”

Q: Had you always wanted to play in England?

A: “Obviously, the PREM is one of the top competitions and being able to play in it, especially being a Zimbabwean, is something that’s good for me.”

Q: What was it like helping Zimbabwe to qualify for the 2027 World Cup?

A: “It was like a dream coming true because we’d always talked about that and I’d been through two campaigns where we’ve tried and we didn’t manage to do it. So, to be a part of this and see how far we’ve come as a nation it meant so much for me and the boys, and everyone back home. We just put so many smiles on people’s faces.”

Q: What will it do for Zimbabwean rugby?

A: “I think what it will do is grow the game and coming from a place like Zimbabwe where there are not a lot of opportunities, especially in sport, it just opens up that door. Many youngsters who have the ability can now actually express themselves and be able to play because what we did by qualifying was get a grant where hopefully we can now build structures in Zimbabwean rugby to give youngsters opportunities to play.

For example, for me to be able to be where I am, I had to go through the South African system and from there I had to move to France, and so forth, but so many players are lost in that transition. So, being able to build something where the structures are in Zimbabwe allow people to be professional, able to play and able to provide for their families through rugby, that will be something that’s great. Then players can just focus on that and grow the game within the country.”

Q: How do you feel about drawing England in your World Cup pool?

A: “That’s just added to the excitement! They’re one of the best teams in the world right now and for us to be able to test ourselves against one of the best teams will be something that we’re looking forward to. We’re just relishing it.”

Q: Have you been speaking to the England players at Saints about it?

A: “They’ve been coming to me every day! People have been saying to me ‘we’re going to come at you.’ Fin Smith has been saying the same – ‘ah, we’re going to come at you’ – but then after they say that they say we have to make sure we get a jersey swap, so it’s going to be interesting.”

Q: How did coming through South Africa’s system help you?

A: “I think it helped my development a lot. Again, the small things that you pick up that you, per se, wouldn’t think about but you pick it up through coaching detail. Those things helped me to be able to get the opportunity to play in France and when I was in France I picked up small things as well, and then obviously here I’m picking up even more microdetails about the game. It has helped me to become a complete player.”

Q: What was your Saints debut against Gloucester like?

A: “It was extraordinary because I was on the bench and I was thinking maybe after 20 minutes we’ll go for a warm-up and then after that maybe half-time, and then after half-time maybe 10 minutes into the second half I come on. But then the starting tighthead got injured early, so it was ‘Cleo, warm up’ and there were nerves at the beginning, but that’s the thing about the guys; they bring you in and they connect with you.

So, as soon as I got on it was a clear ‘well done, let’s do this,’ and they talked to me, they made things much easier and you just feel a part of the team and a part of the game. Unfortunately, I ended up getting injured, but it was one of those games I’ll always remember. I think it helped me having a game like that (so early) because it was an introduction to what PREM rugby is like. They have a nine that’s always moving the ball and everything was quick – we were defending for a long time. It sucked to have had the injury but the support group here is so good that within six weeks I was ready to play again.”