Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo,
AFTER an unimpressive outing in Marondera last weekend, Milton High School Elephants have set their sights on upsetting Prince Edward High School (PE) Tigers today.
The two teams, Milton Elephants and PE Tigers will go up against each other at Bulawayo’s ceremonial home of rugby, Hartsfield Rugby Grounds. Last week, the team lost 22-15 against Wise Owl.
Having started playing against the capital-based PE Tigers last year, Milton Elephants head coach, Lovemore Mangwiro is confident that his charges will give their all today to put their performance in Marondera behind them.
Despite the defeat last week, Mangwiro said his boys played well in the second half of the match against Wise Owl and hopes to see them replicate that same performance.
“Preparations for PE have been going on really well. We started straining on Monday and there are injuries from our side so we are looking forward to the encounter. PE is a tough opponent, last year they beat us but we are hoping to do well this time around.
“In the first half in Marondera the boys were too relaxed but we managed to play good rugby in the second half where the score was 15-15. We missed a try hence we could have won that match so their performance will be good motivation ahead of the game against PE,” said Mangwiro.
Prior to the first team matches, four games will be played building up to the main event. The Under-14s will kick start the day in the morning, followed by Under-15s, Under-16s and the second teams. The main match is set to start at 14.00hrs.
The two schools are some of the pioneers of schoolboy rugby in public schools in the country having taken measures to revive the sport at that age group.
At the end of March, Milton High School organised an Easter Rugby Festival which was attended by different schools from around Zimbabwe. However, PE’s festival, which was slated for 24 to 29 April and meant to be used to commemorate the school’s 125 years of existence, was cancelled due to lack of funding.
The clash between Milton Elephants and Tigers will not be the only rugby game taking place in the city today.
The Archer Clothing Rugby League continues for week six with only one match set to take place. The only league match taking place will be between Highlanders and Western Suburbs Panthers and is scheduled for 15.15hrs, after the completion of the Milton and PE game. – @brandon_malvin
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