Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Sharks Academy’s visit to Zimbabwe would ordinarily be a major highlight on the local rugby calendar.
However, for the Junior Sables, the focus is elsewhere. Today, they have a much bigger battle to fight, a redemption against Kenya in their final 2025 Barthes Trophy fixture.
A Sharks Academy side is set to arrive in the country for two scrimmage matches against the Zimbabwe Under-20 team, with the first game set for Tuesday at Old Georgians Sports Club.
The second match is slated for May 4 and will act as a curtain raiser for the Zimbabwe Sables and Zambia match at Harare Sports Club. Before then, Zimbabwe will hope to complete their redemption arc when they wrap up their 2025 Barthes Trophy campaign against Kenya this afternoon.
It goes without saying that for the last 12 months, Kenya have been living rent-free in the minds of Shaun De Souza and his Zimbabwe Junior Sables squad.
The 2024 Barthes Trophy was meant to be a crowning moment for all the hard work and toiling the gaffer and his men had put in for little over two years. And the stage was set too.
Back-to-back wins meant that Zimbabwe could have claimed their hat-trick title on home soil, and in front of their family and friends.
The Junior Sables had similarly put the ghosts of Namibia’s dominance behind them.
De Souza went into the tournament with a perfect record against regional neighbours Namibia, after convincing wins in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the tournament, which were, ironically, held in Kenya.
The Junior Sables also went into the tournament as clear favourites and they were already looking beyond the horizon as a return to the Junior World Trophy beckoned.
Unfortunately, everything that could have gone wrong did just that.
Zimbabwe put up a disjointed performance in the final and Kenya reaped the rewards and claimed victory 28-13.
It was a deplorable performance; one characterised by individual play at the detriment of the collective good.
That performance is only eclipsed by their recent showing against Namibia last weekend.
The images of Kenya’s Under-20 side singing and dancing in front of the home fans did not help matters either. The East Africans went home happily vindicated, while Zimbabwe stayed on to lick their wounds and try to get over the trauma of embarrassing themselves in full view of the entire nation. But that was then.
Now, Zimbabwe and Kenya meet again and De Souza has only one thing on his mind and that is to win.
“We want to win and win big,” said the Zimbabwe Under-20 gaffer. “Yes, the 2025 Barthes Trophy has not gone the way we wanted it, but a second-place finish is now a must.
“We have to finish the tournament on a high and make that loss to Namibia a hiccup with two good performances. We also owe it to our fans and have to redeem ourselves after losing to Kenya at home last year.”
As it pertains to the match against the Sharks Academy, De Souza said: “It is very much still on our minds. We had a five-match block planned prior to this tournament, and the Sharks’ game was very much a part of that programme.”
He added: “We hope to use this match (against Kenya) as preparations for the two Sharks matches. I gave the boys a day off after the Tunisia win and have altered our preparations a little over the last couple of days.
“The emphasis has been on tactical polishing and mental preparation as we have to stay locked in for the full 80 minutes during both encounters.
“We also had a field session today (yesterday) and the boys look sharp and ready.”
Zimbabwe are expected to welcome back skipper Benoni Nhekairo, who is yet to take part in the tournament, but has been fit to make the bench for the Kenya game.
De Souza is likely to give the Zimbabwe flyhalf a run at some stage of the match as he hopes to get him fit for Tuesday’s match against the Sharks Academy.
Winger Emmanuel Magutakuona (concussion), centre Munangi Kamwendo, Tinotenda Rusike and Polite Phiri (hamstring) have all been ruled out of today’s game due to injury, but could make the squad for the Sharks game.
It appears the fates of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya are set to be intertwined forever on the rugby pitch.
The three nations each had two Barthes Trophy titles coming into this tournament.
Namibia won it in 2027 and 2018, Kenya have the 2019 and 2024 titles, while Zimbabwe have back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023.
The 2020 tournament was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Namibia are largely expected to walk away champions after convincing wins over both Zimbabwe (41-22) and Kenya (32-22) during the week-long tournament. Namibia will open today’s festivities with a clash against group whipping boys Tunisia, a match they are largely expected to win convincingly.
The sad reality of their situation is that Namibia will have very little to show for their dominant performances all week, as the Junior World Trophy was scrapped off the calendar by World Rugby due to budget constraints.
“It is unfortunate that there won’t be any Junior World Trophy this year, I am reliably informed it (postponement) has something to do with resources, but this is not the end of the world,” said De Souza.
“Namibia are most likely to win it and congratulations to them, but I am sure there will be other tournaments that will come up and they will be invited to those.”
The Zimbabwe Under-20 gaffer played down any animosity between Kenya and Zimbabwe, saying they will most likely have an exciting encounter. It will definitely be an exciting game” he said. “We have sort of got ourselves to the level that we want to be in, prepared well and we are certainly looking forward to the matchup.
“It certainly will be one for the books. They haven’t changed; they have stuck to their style, in which they run the ball whenever they come, and try to suffocate us in defence.
“Kenya have got a very strong pack and have excellent defenders. We have assessed that and have a few tricks up our sleeve.”
He said the Junior Sables wanted to redeem themselves. Across the pond, Kenya skipper and scrumhalf Roy Maruti tried to play a few mind games with the Zimbabwe camp in the lead-up to today’s encounter.
“We aimed for the sun, when the tournament began, but now we are targeting the moon,” he said. “We want to finish strong and, at the very least, be the runners-up.”
The Kenyan number nine is one of the surviving members of the 2024 Barthes Trophy squad and spent most of the final on the bench.
Zimbabwe squad
Takudzwa Matsvimbo, Louange Ujenza Mutima, Emmanuel Tawana Gabi (captain), Nyasha Ngwarati, Tafara Dewa, Rufaro Shenje, Thabani Ndlovu, Samuel Edwards (vice captain), Tatenda Kambvumbi, Tinotenda Chinyadza, Shammah Jackson (co-captain), Ivan Chirengende, Tadiwanashe Maradze, P.K. Manyakara, Tadiwa Chikutiro, Wayne Kuraimunashe, Stanley Murangwana, Kudzai Chenda, Tinashe Nyanyiwa, Pharrell Mudiwa Maziwa, Tawanda Chisungu, Benoni Nhekairo, Alex Kern
