adminThe City of Kings has of late been playing second fiddle to Harare as most senior players have migrated to other countries in search of greener pastures.
Mukorera spoke highly of the developmental tournaments that are being organised for the Under-20s who he said carried Bulawayo’s hopes.
At the weekend four clubs — Busters, Old Miltonians, Western Panthers and Bulldogs — competed in the first round of the Zimbo Under-20 Cup at Hartsfield Stadium.
Selectors were also busy identifying players with a potential to represent Bulawayo during next month’s tour of South Africa.
“The board resolved last year that we have not been doing that well of late and said concentrating on the juniors will help lay a good foundation for the future.
“If you look at our three teams that participated in last season’s National Rugby League, we had a number of Under-20 players featuring which gave them exposure to competitive rugby.
“Very soon these youngsters will become forces to reckon with and Harare teams will struggle to beat us. As it is they are aware that we have good boys who have given them some tough times and what we have to work on are just a few technical things.
“I think after the Zimbo tournament, the South African tour and some of the festivals that we are going to take the boys to will prepare them for the National Rugby League,” Mukorera said.
Old Miltonians, who beat defending champions Busters, had players like Tichaona Magunje and Tawanda Gunda in their line-up while Busters had the likes of Brian Dube, Dexter Mutete and Shingirai Musarurwa who
were part of last season’s senior team that competed in the National Rugby League.
On the other hand Western Panthers’ experienced squad that had the likes of Marlvern Gomo, Dredford Ndlovu, Irvine Nduwa, Thabo Nyathi and Thandolwenkosi Ndlovu cruised to a comfortable 38-0 victory over Bulldogs.
Mukorera, winner of the 2009 MRFB Development Coach of the Year award said MRFB would continue offering training programmes to western areas schools.
“Our grassroots coaching programme seems to be yielding results and we hope to have more schools in the western areas taking up the sport. We have coaches that have been deployed to help the schools and we hope they are utilised,” Mukorera said.
Online Reporter