Andrew
Online Reporter
ONE of the biggest takeaways from the Young Sables’ send-off dinner held at Doon Estate in Msasa, Harare, on Tuesday evening was the revelation by Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) president Aaron Jani of his long and storied history with the Barthes’ Trophy.
There was also the story of the man after whom the tournament is named after, Jean-Luc Barthes.
Zimbabwe’s Under-20 team will leave for Kenya on Thursday, where they will feature in the eight-team Barthes’ Trophy competition from April 9 to April 17.
A ticket to the Junior World Rugby Trophy will be up for grabs, as eight of the top Under-20 teams on the continent slug it out for supremacy.
These include defending champions and hosts Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Uganda.
Originally known as the Rugby Africa Under-20 Cup, the tourney has literally been a staple diet for the Young Sables since its inception.
Through the tournament, Zimbabwe have gone on to qualify for the Junior World Trophy five times.
It was later christened the Barthes’ Trophy after Jean-Luc Barthes, who was the rugby services manager for World Rugby.
Barthes died in 2016.
Jani, who served in the Under-20 committee and was directly involved with the Young Sables for a decade, used the occasion of the send-off dinner to motivate coach Sean De Souza’s charges.
“I have been involved with the Under-20 team for such a long time; I think more than 10 years.
“To fully appreciate what this tournament is all about, I think one needs a little history lesson.
“This is specifically aimed at the current Under-20 team, and should help them understand the importance of the tournament and how they fit into the big picture at the ZRU.
“Our inaugural participation at this tournament was back in 2006, and I happened to be available at the time to be the chairman of the fund-raising committee,” Jani said.
“At the time, it was called the Rugby Africa Under-20 Tournament.
“There was also a very influential gentleman called Jean-Luc Barthes, and he was the services manager for World Rugby.
“His responsibility was Africa, and he used to come to Africa – and Zimbabwe in particular – to help in terms of preparation for the tournament and the development of players.
“Unfortunately, he died in 2016, and in order to honour him, as Rugby Africa we then decided to name this tournament the Barthes Trophy,” he said.
The tournament has since gone through many changes, starting off with the division between the Anglophone countries playing amongst each other, while the French-speaking countries did the same.
Now, the top-eight teams at the Under-20 level meet at a single venue and battle for one of two tickets to the Junior World Trophy.
South Africa, due to their superior world rankings, secured an automatic spot.
The Junior World Trophy is the holy grail of Under-20 age-group rugby and comprises of 16 teams.
The first eight teams, namely the Junior World Cup, comprise the top-eight teams in the world, and it is also where South Africa are placed.
Eight other countries are placed in the Junior World Trophy in their respective zones and it is where the rest of the world fight to represent their regions.
It is against the background of Zimbabwe’s rich history with the tourney that Jani gave his rallying cry for the Young Sables’ Class of 2022 ahead of their tip to Kenya. “We have participated at every single outing of the Barthes Trophy and we have had some successes and some disappointments, too.
“In terms of successes, since 2006, we have managed to participate in the Junior World Trophy five times.
“The first time we went to Ireland, and then we went to Russia, Georgia, Salt Lake City in the US, and then we actually held the tournament here in Harare (2016).
“If you do the numbers, it means approximately 150 players have managed to wear the national colours for Junior World Trophy.
“So, you have a choice, as you go and participate at this weekend’s Barthes Trophy.
“You could go there and win so as to become the next level of 180 people that would have participated at the Junior World Trophy.
“There is also a lot to play for in Kenya. The countries that do well in this tournament automatically infuse that talent into their senior national teams and thrive at the senior level.”
Online Reporter