admintwo sides for the local side’s preparations for the next edition of the Junior World Rugby Trophy.
Having finished as the bottom placed side at the Georgia edition of the world tournament early this year, the Zimbabwe Under-20 committee saw it necessary to engage their South Africa counterparts in preparing the junior side.
Over the past years, Zimbabwe have just been training on home soil before they travelled for the JWRT, but for the coming international season, the juniors will have a chance to play at a higher level before the world tournament. Former Sables’ winger and Under-20 chairman, Aaron Jani, yesterday said they had made a number of changes to their structures.
“We saw that we were not getting a higher level inpreparation for the JWRT and that is why we are in talks with the Lions of South Africa so that we could send over our side to have a chance to learn from them.
“Obviously we would like to make an impression at the JWRT and we should stick to our original goal of finishing among the top four and, because of the changes we have made to the structures in our set-up, I am sure the goal is very realistic.
“We hope that all will go well and we are also looking at a programme where we would cast the selection net wider so that we get not only the so called Group A schools but get deep and find other talent in the country.
“We have also been getting a lot of support from sponsors such as South African Airways who donated two international return tickets for a raffle we held prior to the departure for the JWRT in May,” said Jani.
South African Airways donated two air tickets for the raffle in the form of a return ticket to any destination in the world while the second prize was a return ticket to Johannesburg, South Africa.
However, the first prize went to Ashley Dixon, who was presented with the prize yesterday, with the second prize going to a Sibanda while the third prize of a DVD player went to golfer Jessie Nyakatawa.
Under-20 administrator Colleen de Jong said there was a good response to the raffle despite the fact that it was under a difficult (economic) environment while SAA sales and marketing manager added they would continue supporting rugby.
This is not the first time that the airline is involved in rugby as they have been attached to Prince Edward School for a long time.
However, Jani believes that the coming international season has a lot in store for his side who ended 2010 on a high note after successfully defending the Junior Africa Cup on home soil.
A number of players in the Sables and Cheetahs sides are a product of the schools system that also benefit the Under-19/20 teams and it was these rookies who dominated the national rugby awards last week.
They included the duo of scrummy Charles Jiji (Backline Player of the Year), Kudakwashe Chiwanza (Rookie of the Year) who were in Georgia this year and Danny Robertson who was part of the side that finished seventh in Russia last year.
“I think that is a sign that Zimbabwe is beginning to bear the fruit of investing in junior rugby and that shows the future of Zimbabwe rugby is very bright and I hope a lot more of such good talent will keeping coming in.
“We have been having meetings as a committee and we are going to start with a coaching clinic in Bulawayo before we go on to Mutare and Masvingo as we search for more talent and casting the net wider for a bigger pool.
“This will not only make us have better players but we will also have competition for places in the side because no one is guaranteed of a place in the side and they (the players) have to work for it,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Under-18 Sevens side is expected to engage the Cheetahs on Sunday at Harare Sports Club in a practise match as they prepare for the inaugural schools’ Sevens tournament in Middelburg next weekend.
The Cheetahs will also be using this game to assess potential Cheetahs for the Rastenburg tournament also in South Africa next month.
Online Reporter