. . . Mbare shines

them a well deserved 12-7 victory over the Tigers.
Tides of change have swept across the schools sevens platform as all minor branded schools dominated the main accolades of the day.
Hellenic School, who recently introduced the sport in their curriculum, beat St John’s College 34-7 in the Bowl Final.
Churchill beat Eaglesvale 10-5 in the Plate Final and Mabvuku High School lost 24-0 to Vainona High School.
Zimbabwe Cheetahs’ Graham Kaulback, who is currently out of action due to a leg injury, lauded the progress these schools are making.
Kaulback is a member of the large team of top players working towards development of rugby in high-density schools.
“Hellenic is a new school compared to all the other schools. They are fronting up against schools that have had more than 100 years of rugby while they have about six years and want to continue to develop.
Mbare’s skills are unbelievable, they know the sevens game and you can see on the field that it is really coming through.
“I can see Mbare right up at the top with the rest of the schools especially in sevens rugby because they have more skill and soon will match the other schools in their numbers.
Five years from now you will see all the high-density schools coming up nicely,” he said.
National convener of sevens rugby selectors, Rick Kershaw, attributed this to the “Tag initiative” which resulted into the country’s first national primary schools sevens tournament in 2012.
Last year there was the first ever combined Under-16 and 18 tour to South Africa in which emerging players from Mbare and Hellenic represented the nation.
Among the players was Hellenic’s hattrick try scorer Craig Bare who scripted St Johns’ demise yesterday.
The foundation of Mbare’s history runs very deep and Mbare have produced the likes of Germany-based Manase Siita, Stephen Hunduza and Shayne Makombe.
KaulBack expressed his personal sentiments on the current competition and the future of the sport in this country.
He said: “It was awesome to see so much competition coming up and new teams challenging these big schools with so many boys playing there and I think it’s a tribute to the Cheetahs’ outreach programme into the high-density areas and less developed schools.
We have been pushing rugby out there and getting the sport out there with training camps and development programmes with the schools there.”