adminJeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
ZIMBABWE national under-18 rugby team is set to face South Africa’s Eastern Province Country Districts in the 2014 Craven Week according to tentative dates for the annual tournament in Middelberg, South Africa, in July. Provisional fixtures and dates released in January toss Zimbabwe into the deep end as highly-rated EPCD is a well known force and national coach Goodwin ‘Jaws’ Murambiwa expects a tough time for his charges.
“We expect a very tough game from EPCD, they have done very well in previous outings. We hope this year the boys who are available will step up like last year’s team.
“Craven Week games are always tough and this year will not be any different. We are under pressure, naturally, you would want to improve each year, our target is to turn the deficit against Namibia which is important for us,” said Murambiwa.
Last year Zimbabwe turned on the show, winning two of their three matches after beating Limpopo Blue Bulls and the Griquas before crashing at the hand of arch-rivals Namibia in Polokwane.
Murambiwa is waiting for the COTTCO rugby festival and schools fixtures to come up with a provisional squad while provinces in South Africa have structures in place to regularly monitor their players.
“Preparations are always tricky at schoolboy level, trials are still three months away and the boys are in their athletics season right now.
“Hopefully, this year we can get at least two games in before we go, it is always about time together,” he said.
Zimbabwe have a number of Under-17 players who have shown a lot of promise like the speedy Tawanda Ngosi and Stephen Bhasera.
Online Reporter