admin
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
IT was a day that the city’s ceremonial home of rugby, Hartsfield Rugby Grounds was brought back to its former glory when it played host to the Unforgettable Sevens Rugby Festival on Saturday.
The festival was organised by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB).
The festival attracted many teams drawn from clubs, schools and women’s teams and Hartsfield was packed as many rugby fans attended the event which marked the end of this year’s rugby season.
“It’s been a while since we had a tournament this big, we had schools coming as far as Harare and Gweru and it’s good for rugby, what a way to end the year,” said Zimbabwe Rugby Union South, Martin Shone.
BMRFB director of rugby and former national sevens coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba said having schools coming back to play rugby at Hartsfield once again was a great win for them.
“For us this is a great win, for us to be able to get schools to come back and play at Hartsfield and to get ladies teams, junior teams, to get 30 teams at one venue made the day for us and today rugby won,” said Nyamutsamba.
Matabeleland Warriors and Bulawayo Select head coach, Ruben Kumpasa shared similar sentiments saying Saturday was a big game changer for the sport and proved that rugby is still alive.
“Today was a big game changer, all along people thought that Hartsfield is dead but with this tournament, we have just showed people that rugby is still alive in Bulawayo and this is just the beginning. There are bigger and better tournaments to come so we can show the world that Bulawayo can still play rugby,” said Kumpasa.
On the field of play, Christian Brothers College (CBC) were crowned champions in the Under-20 after a win against Milton Boys High in the final. CBC won the match 19-12 to be crowned the best Under-20 boys on the day in front of a buzzing Milton fan base. The win in the final was a sweet revenge for CBC having lost 14-5 in the group stages against the same opponents.
Matabeleland Warriors once again proved to be one of the city’s finest teams after emerging as overall winners. Warriors won 21-0 against Highlanders in the final to be crowned champions.
Kumpasa was happy with the way his team played throughout the tournament and the entire season overall and is hoping to continue with the form next year.
The new season is expected to start in the second week of January. — @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter