Calls for schools’ rugby league grow louder

Zimpapers Sports Hub

CALLS for a national schools rugby league keep getting louder every year, with the latest voice from corporates.

CBZ Holdings Limited chief executive officer Lawrence Nyazema believes the time has come for school heads around the country to come to the table, thrash out their differences and work towards resurrecting a national schools rugby league.

Nyazema was speaking on the sidelines of the CBZ Bank Schools Rugby Clashes match between St George’s College and St Johns College on Saturday.

“For now, we are supporting the sport by sponsoring the power clashes, but the ideal position would have been for us to bankroll a proper national schools rugby league,” said Nyazema.

“However, we currently don’t have such a league as private schools like St Johns and St George’s College have their league while the likes of Prince Edward and Churchill play in a separate league.

“The ideal situation would be to have all these schools come together and form one big competitive league so that we will get the best match-ups and the best talents locking horns,” he said.

Among some of the contentious issues that prevented the ideal of a national league has been accusations of age-cheating that have been thrown around over the last couple of years.

Nyazema proposed that should schools come together to form a national league, CBZ could be on hand to bankroll the medical tests.

“The challenges are at school level and we hear that there have accusations of age-cheating at institutions.

“I wish to make it clear that these accusations are yet to be proven and, as such, remain just that. When it comes to some players being over the age limits, we can play a role by sponsoring medical tests for players to be checked, like what they do in football.

“This issue of age-cheating should not be a reason for us not to have a national league, there are ways of dealing and solving whatever issues currently exist,” he said.

The CBZ Schools Rugby Clashes entered its second week with some pulsating clashes scattered around the country.

Top of the pile were the much-touted “Harare derbies”, as St John College edged out St George’s College 28-27 while Prince Edward finally got one over rivals Churchill, courtesy of a 19-15 win.

Peterhouse Boys beat Lomagundi College 33-31 while Bulawayo’s Falcon College thrashed Christian Brothers College (CBC) 35-17.

Watershed College emerged 32-20 winners over Hillcrest College.

Full Results

Lomagundi 31-33 Peterhouse

St George’s College 27-28 St John’s College

Prince Edward 19-15 Churchill

Falcon College 35-17 CBC

Hellenic Academy 20-8 Eaglesvale

Watershed College 32-20 Hillcrest College

Heritage 30-14 Gateway High School

Milton High 10-8 Plumtree

Wise Owl 64-8 BMC