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Grace Chingoma
Senior Sports Reporter
DEFENDING champions Zimbabwe Under-20 rugby team left for Kenya in high spirits yesterday for another continental adventure in defence of the Barthes Africa Trophy.
The Under-20 Barthes Trophy which is named after the World Rugby Services Manager for Africa, Jean-Luc Barthes, gets underway in Nairobi tomorrow and runs up to April 30.
It is the biggest competition for Under-20 players on the continent with the winners qualifying for the World Rugby Junior Trophy.
Zimbabwe are in Group B alongside Namibia, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire while hosts Kenya are in Group A together with Madagascar, Tunisia and Zambia.
The Young Sables begin their title defence this weekend at Nyayo Stadium fully aware that they are the team to beat.
Last year Zimbabwe beat Namibia 19 – 14 to end an 11-year drought for the trophy. The Young Sables had previously won the trophy in successive back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.
But following their success last year, the victorious Young Sables were unfortunate they could not utilise their ticket to the Junior World Trophy that was cancelled due to Covid-19.
The Young Sables technical department is optimistic that they will be able to retain the trophy.
During the build up to this tournament, the team received tremendous support. On Monday they were hosted by President Mnangagwa at the State House.
The President pledged financial support for the team which has vowed to bring the trophy back home and qualify for the World Trophy in South Africa later this year.
On Independence, they had a send-off luncheon in Borrowdale. The event was attended by the ZRU president Aaron Jani, ZRU head of technical Godwin Jaws Murambiwa, Under-20 Rugby Committee chairman Itai Chataurwa, parents and the sponsors.
The Young Chevrons also secured sponsorship from Nedbank.
The team’s coach Shaun De Souza was bullish that the Zimbabwean team will conquer Africa again.
“We are definitely confident; we are not going to be arrogant but we are going to be confident.
“I made a statement in Kenya last year after we won the trophy and I declared that we would win it again this year. So I am going to stick to my word, we are bringing it home,” said De Souza.
The coach believes continuity will enable his troops to prevail against tough competition in Kenya.
Young Sables skipper Panashe Zuze, his vice Tanaka Gondo Mukandapi and Brendan Marume are some of the players that were in the team that showed great character and beat Namibia last year.
“We have put in the work, we had a process. We had junior players playing in the event last year that have developed into senior players this year.
“So the process is working well. We struggled in the European games when we played against Canada and Uruguay but we fixed that department. We sorted all our set pieces and I think we are ready to compete,” said De Souza.
Namibia coach De La Harpe says the former champions are ready to wrestle the title from Zimbabwe this year but their main focus is on the first game.
“Preparations have been challenging but very positive. We have had a 10-day camp which has allowed us to grow together as a team. I am very impressed with the boys’ work ethic and desire. We have had great coaches, management, and volunteers who have contributed on and off the pitch to ensure the boys are well looked after and prepared for Kenya,” Harpe told Xinhua this week.
Namibia last won the trophy in 2018 and last year they came second best to Zimbabwe. Harpe believes his team has made significant strides.
“In December, we had a five-day alignment camp where 120 players turned up. We had to narrow this number down to 60 in January.
“Since then, we have been working four or more days a week with the locally-based players. About 20 days ago, the squad was narrowed down to 38 (28 traveling and 10 non-traveling), and eight days ago, this group worked extensively each day in preparation for the Barthes Cup.
“There have been very impressive ‘Moments of Perfection’ during warm-up games against local premier league clubs. Some of our boys are 18, and for them to play against men who have multiple years of experience and have been playing together for years has been a phenomenal sight,” said the coach.
Online Reporter