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Lungelo Ndlovu Chronicle Reporter
ENTUMBANE High School was crowned Umdala Wethu Schools Rugby Tournament champions at the weekend at Hartsfield Stadium.
They endured a grueling event in which they were in a difficult pool but were good enough to make it to the group stages.Entumbane High School were placed in Pool A with schools like Njube and Emakhandeni.
Pool B had Msitheli, Northlea and St Columba’s.
Entumbane managed to beat Milton 13-12 in a fiercely contested final.
Sixteen schools participated in the inaugural Umdala Wethu Schools Rugby Tournament which was organised in honour of the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo.
There are now efforts to make it an annual event.
Sikhulile, Njube, Emakhandeni, Nkulumane, Northlea, Sobukhazi, St Columba’s, Milton, St Bernard’s, Amhlophe, Mzilikazi, Hamilton, Gifford and Luveve provided boys’ teams.
Sobukhazi, Northlea, Amhlophe, Nkulumane, St Bernard’s and Msitheli had their girls’ teams taking part.
The tournament is meant to develop sport participation for both boys and girls at grassroots level and aims among other things to provide a platform for the sport to grow in the high density suburbs.
Northlea and Amhlophe girls had a good game in Pool A. The two teams left the spectators asking for more as both showed composure and determination to outwit each other, leading to one Northlea girl slapping an opponent.
Despite exciting action the match ended in a goalless draw.
Entumbane head coach, Emmanuel Sibanda expressed satisfaction with the general organisation of the tournament. He said he was hopeful the school would leave a mark in schools rugby.
“Probably we need to give a hint to what has been happening, concerning rugby. We have broken the myth that says rugby is a sport for the elite schools. We have just won in spite of the challenges and today we played Milton in the final and we crushed them.
“As far as we are concerned the challenge lies everywhere. We need to do away with this mentality, that rugby should be played by ‘A’ schools and I would like to thank my school for supporting the team and we are yet to groom a girls’ team too for next year,” said Sibanda.
The tournament was run by the Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) and the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation who also expressed satisfaction on the level of competition by the local schools.
MRFB spokesperson, George Mukorera urged rugby enthusiasts to support grassroots rugby at schools because that’s where most talent comes from.
“What I can say about this tournament is that it is a developmental event. Actually what I can say is that there is talent from schools that participated here.We are calling for support from headmasters and parents of these kids to support us,” said Mukorera.
The Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation chief executive officer, Jabulani Hadebe said the tournament was a worthy cause and they would continue supporting sport in order to develop talent from this region.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu