adminSenior Sports Reporter
BRIAN Muntanga, Zimbabwe captain of the Under-18 side at the Coca-Cola Craven Week in Stellenbosch, South Africa last year leaves the country tomorrow for Atlanta, United States of America where he has landed a rugby linked scholarship at Life University.
Muntanga will be studying for a four-year degree in Business Management at the Marietta-based private institution where he is also expected to play rugby. He will only be required to pay tuition fees at the university for the duration of his studies.
Kisset Chirengende, the founder and director of Kyros Sports as well as Allan Mavunga played a huge part in getting him into Life University.
“I am only going to be paying tuition fees at Life University because I am going on a rugby scholarship. Kisset Chirengende of Kyros Sports got me interested in going to the US, Allan Mavunga who runs College Placement Agency helped out with the papers and getting into Life University, both of them played a huge part. I also got a scholarship to Arkansas State University but they advised me to go to Life University because it is a better option,’’ said Muntanga.
Muntanga has been signed to play the position of hooker in the front row, a role he has settled in after also being slotted in at flank. On what he wants to achieve during the four years at Life University, the 18-year-old disclosed that his aim was to acquire excellent marks and excel in rugby to a point that he attains the best he can with the institution.
Like many youngsters who have come through the Zimbabwean junior rugby ranks, he has not yet made his mind whether he will represent the country at senior level. He attended the Under-20 camps as the team prepares for the World Rugby Junior Trophy set for Harare next month but was informed that he should postpone going to USA if he wanted be part of the Junior Sables.
“I haven’t decided on whether I will play for Zimbabwe at the highest level. I took part in Under-20 camps in Harare but I could not make myself available because school comes first, if I wanted to be part of the team that meant I had to delay going to USA, something I could not afford to do,’’ said Muntanga.
He chose Business Management because in future he has a desire to partake in business, something that runs in the family as his parents Bernard and Otilia operate a firm called Skatefold Investments in Bulawayo. Muntanga went to Milton Junior from 2000 to 2005 where he played soccer as a striker, Hillside Junior from 2006 to 2009 which is where he took up rugby with Jethro Musapingura as his first coach who trained him to play at hooker and then CBC with John Sibanda being his first high school mentor in the sport.
His stay at CBC was from 2010 to 2011 until he moved to Falcon College on a rugby scholarship from 2012 to 2015.
He represented Zimbabwe at Under-14 in 2010, in 2013 he made Zimbabwean team for the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week where he was selected at flank. In 2014, Muntanga was picked for the Under-18 team again as a loose forward.
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