adminBukhosi Mangena Sports Correspondent
THE newly appointed Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) has made changes to its season by introducing a new Midlands/Matabeleland (MidMat) invitational tournament to end the season. The new board chaired by Theo Weale met at Hartsfield Grounds yesterday where they unveiled plans for the tournament that will see outstanding players forming a select team to face a Harare select on the last day of the season.
The MidMat tournament will feature teams from Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Kadoma and Masvingo.
Weale said they decided to launch the invitational tourney to compensate for the non-existent league.
“Players were not given the exposure they deserve and so we came up with the tourney to give them just that. We don’t have a sponsor yet, but that’s still work in progress. We will announce the most valuable player of the tournament at the end because discovering new talent is what has to be done,” said Weale.
He said teams would be grouped into two pools that will play against each other starting from the quarter-final stage scheduled for Masvingo on August 29.
Gweru will play host to the teams in the semi-final stage on September 12 with Bulawayo hosting the finals two weeks later on September 26.
The MRFB 2015 season kicked off with the Zimbo Under-20 Cup in January followed by the Power Sales Rugby Festival in April. There have been virtually no games since then denying players from the southern region a chance to compete for places in the senior national rugby team.
Presently no player from the region is a member of that Sables’ squad that leaves for Namibia today for the Africa Cup 1A clash.
Winners of this tie will be crowned the African rugby champions.
Online Reporter