Online Reporter
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Junior Sables’ head coach, Shaun De Souza, has said that they are working hard to ensure that they get the best possible preparation ahead of the 2025 Barthes Trophy, which is scheduled for April 17 to 27.
The Junior Sables are looking to reclaim the trophy, which they lost to Kenya at Harare Sports Club last year following a 28-13 defeat.
De Souza’s men are scheduled to face Australia’s Outback Barbarians on Wednesday, March 19 at Hartsfield Rugby Grounds and the coach said redeeming themselves in the Barthes Trophy, which they will be hosting again, is the main target.
He added that he is pleased that they will be able to get some matchups ahead of the tournament. They will also field two teams – the grassroots to greatness side and the Junior Sables at the 2025 Nedbank Challenge where they will be facing competition from senior club teams.
De Souza also announced the date at which the final Junior Sables team will be announced.
“We are fortunate to have the Australian Outback Barbarians coming in and having a fixture in Bulawayo who have been starved of some good rugby. Our mandate is the Barthes Trophy, redeeming ourselves in that tournament. We are now fortunate that we get these build up games and get some of our players some game time, playing against quality opposition, which will help us with our final selection.
“We have the Australian team on March 19 and then we go straight to the Nedbank Challenge where we will have two teams, the grassroots to greatness team and the Junior Sables team. They will play against senior club teams and this is all part of our selection process, some of the guys from the grassroots team might make the final cut from the Nedbank tournament.
“On March 29, we will announce the 35-man squad that will go into camp for the Barthes tournament,” said De Souza.
De Souza added the age-cap window for the tournament has given them a wide pool to select from. While it is interesting, it makes selection more difficult, but they are looking forward to getting the best team out to compete.
The side will be boosted by some returning players.
“The age-cap window has definitely added some excitement. Rugby Africa has announced that the age-cap window is October 19, 2004, going towards December 31, 2007. So, we have got a huge window to look at and to select. It gives some boys an opportunity to come back and redeem themselves. Last year’s captain and vice-captain, Benoni Nhekairo and Allan Mawunga are coming back through the age-window cap. — @brandon_malvin
Peter Tanyanyiwa