These girls are truly special

Tinashe Kusema
ZIMBABWE Under-18 Girls rugby coach Nsikelelo “Sykes” Sibanda plans to parade his all-conquering Craven Week squad when the country hosts a four-team invitational tournament next month.

The Class of 2017 last weekend became only the second Zimbabwean team to finish the Craven Week festival in South Africa unbeaten after the U18 boys team did the same back in 2007.

Zimbabwe U18 beat Griquas (39-5) and Blue Bulls (5-0) in their opening games of the tournament before wrapping up proceedings with 20-15 victory over Boland.

Sibanda reckons the team reaped the rewards their hard work deserved.

“What most people need to understand is that what we achieved in South Africa did not just come out of the blue,” he said. “It is the result of years of hard work and perseverance. In 2015, we traveled to South Africa by bus and that greatly affected our performance as the girls were tired by the time they got onto the field.

“Last year, we had a problem with continuity as we brought in a completely new crop of players and did not prepare adequately as well. Luckily, we managed to address all these challenges this year and the results are there to testify.”

The Zimbabwe Rugby Union is now sitting on requests from Boland, Sharks Academy and Griquas who all want to tour; while invitations have been set to Botswana and Zambia as preparations for the four-team invitational gather steam.

“The girls performed so well in South Africa that we were inundated with enquiries from teams that want to tour. The idea is to host an invitational tournament next month and parade the cream that did us proud in South Africa,” said Sibanda.

The likes of Trish Ngwiringwiri, Leane Max, Debby Mutepuka, Tracy Mabika, Ropafadzo Madya and Shamiso Chawanda were some of the experienced hands in Sibanda’s squad and will not be eligible for next year’s edition.