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Grace Chingoma
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Under-20 rugby team returned home to a heroes’ welcome as hordes of jubilant rugby enthusiasts gathered at the Robert Mugabe International Airport yesterday to salute the new African Under-20 Rugby champions.
The Young Sables were crowned the 2022 Rugby Africa Barthes Trophy on Sunday after edging bitter rivals Namibia 19-14 in the final of the tournament held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The team’s coach Shaun de Souza said the success was the end result of a tough journey that began last year.
“We are excited to have achieved this milestone. It was a tough journey. It was fantastic to see the support (at the airport), and it was overwhelming for some of the boys,” said de Souza.
“Credit to all the work that we have put in with my technical team, all the time that we have spent away from home just trying to get this team going, trying to get a foundation in the right place, trying to drive and prove a point, basically to say that there is talent in this country and we can take rugby to the next level.
“We started the process last year, when we selected a squad of about 180 boys, and then we boiled it down to about 30 boys. We went and played Zambia away and had two fixtures at home.
“That was our foundation, and then from there, in 2022 we selected the Sevens’ High-Performance team, and we used that as our platform to build on. We then went on to the Nedbank Challenge Cup. We used those games to prepare for the Barthes Trophy.”
De Souza hailed his players for the fighting spirit and hard work they put in.
“It’s been a long journey but I think it paid dividends. It showed with the fitness and the condition that the boys were in. It showed our strength and, even the difference towards the dying minutes of the game, that the boys were conditioned and I think it’s a plus. It’s a credit to all the work that we have put in, and gratitude to my team,” he said.
The Rugby Africa Barthes Trophy carries a ticket to play at next year’s World Rugby Junior Trophy. But Zimbabwe are still waiting for rugby Africa to confirm this year’s qualification criteria.
De Souza said they are waiting to hear whether they will have to play again next year to qualify for the junior global tournament.
“For the World Rugby Junior Trophy, we are still waiting to find out the exact criteria. From our understanding, what we were told is the rankings from last year were the ones that were going to this year’s junior World Trophy because last year’s Junior World Trophy did not happen due to Covid-19.
“So we just wait and see. We also hear that Kenya are the hosts, and by virtue of being the hosts, they are going to the Junior World Trophy.
”We wait for Rugby Africa to tell us where we stand. If not, then it’s one of those things, we will have to play again in April next year for us to qualify for July the same year. We have a young group so will be excited and up for the challenge next year,” said de Souza.
For the team to realise their full potential, the coach made a passionate appeal for support from the corporate world.
“My only appeal at this moment is we did this with no resources, so we appeal to corporates to come on board and support the youth, the junior Sables, as they are the grassroots and the foundation to the senior Sables and the Cheetahs systems.
“As much as all the corporates are more interested in the senior teams, we appeal that they also show some interest in the junior teams. At the moment, we carry the title of African champions.
“I think that’s a credit to the work ethic and skills that we have in the junior age groups.
”But for us to nurture that, we need to put some funds into the system so that we can upscale ourselves, upscale the players, and even take it to the next level,” said de Souza.
Online Reporter