adminPaul Munyuki Sports Reporter
INTERNATIONAL Rugby Board-accredited educator Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa believes the standard of local rugby is deteriorating with each passing year and local clubs need international exposure if the Sables are to improve. There are plans by the Zimbabwe Rugby Union for the Sables to play in the Vodacom Cup tournament in South Africa, but Murambiwa feels there should be development at a lower level, especially club level, first.
The former Sables coach feels the fact that local clubs do not take part in international tournaments translates to most of the players being content with winning against the same teams in the local league and not taking a step up.
“The first thing we need is to have our local clubs play against different competition like other clubs from Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and the like because that way we can measure where we are as Zimbabwe club rugby.
“We should not start with the Vodacom Cup, but expose more of our players and expose them to different competition before moving on to the national team and at the moment it is wrong to say that our league is okay.
“Kenya and Uganda have gone that way where they play a lot of foreign teams and that is why they are starting to give us problems at national level,” said Murambiwa.
The former Under-19 coach said the reason why the Craven Week Under-18 side does better at the tournament is that the schools are exposed to international competition before the local schools league starts.
“A good point of referral is that of the schools. The schools that go on international tours are usually the better sides when it comes to our season and this is because the players get exposure and different challenges from the schools they play abroad,” said Murambiwa.
“And when they come back to Zimbabwe, be it that they have won or lost, they have a different standard they set for themselves because they have had their eyes opened by new opposition not the same teams they play week in week out.
“If we look at the standard of rugby that was exhibited this year, I feel that it was lower than the previous two years and this is definitely going to have an impact on our national team players because this is the same pool we draw our players from. I was disappointed by the standard or level of play that was displayed by the clubs this season and there is a need for us to re-invent ourselves.
As the Zimbabwe league, we are isolated in a lot of respects and that is why the standard of play in the National Rugby League is low.
“If we look at the quality of play we saw at the weekend in the NRL final between Old Hararians and Old Georgians and compare that with say the club level in Namibia, we find that Namibia is at a higher standard.”
Newly-crowned NRL champions Old Hararians and last year’s champions Harare Sports Club were the only two teams that got international exposure when they travelled to Zambia in June with the Old Boys coming out tops.
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