Young Sables seek winning inspiration

month will have a rub-on effect on his side when they take part in the Junior Africa Cup scheduled for Harare in two weeks’ time.
The week-long event is scheduled for Prince Edward School and will run from the July 22.
Jani is comfortable with the effort the organising and marketing committees have so far put in preparing for the tournament.
Zimbabwe won the bid to host the tournament, after years of being turned down, and last year the opportunity to host the eight-team event was snatched from them at the last minute.
However, it was third time luck for Zimbabwe when they were given the greenlight to host the Under-19 tournament that will feature teams like Namibia, Tunisia, Uganda, Kenya and the hosts.
The Under-19 Africa Cup tournament doubles as the qualifier to the Junior World Rugby Trophy and the Young Sables have been to the global event twice.
Zimbabwe beat Namibia in successive years to qualify for the Junior World Rugby Trophy.
This time they will get a chance to defend their African title on home soil.
Jani praised said the organising committee which he said had, so far, surpassed their set targets.
“We have met our targets in terms of the goals we had set for ourselves at this stage and I am sure that by the time the teams start coming in we would have completed all the stages.
“All the people in the committee have been working hard and we have so far managed to attract Astra Paints, Waverly Blankets, City Form, Jaymann AMI Hospitals and A. Machado Building Contractors among other sponsors.
“But this does not mean that we have closed the door on the sponsors because we are still looking for more sponsorship as we have several other requests and we are hopeful to get positive feedback,” said the former Zimbabwe Rugby Union vice-president.
Jani believes that the momentum the Sables have built over the past month must continue, as this is good for the sport and the country at large.
More than six players in the current Sables side have played at this level of competition in the past four years and they include flyhalf Tichafara Makwanya, energetic scrum half Charles Jiji, fullback Daniel Robertson, Thomas Nelson, Tatenda Karuru and Brian Makamure among others.
“Hosting this tournament is what the doctor ordered and it is exciting right now as Zimbabwe rugby is on a high given that the Sables have been doing well and we can benefit from the high crest the Sables are riding on at the moment.
“It is good that we managed to host this tournament and it is one of the biggest things that have happened for Zimbabwe rugby over the past 10 years,” Jani said.
“We have in the past had problems in Africa where standards of hosting the tournament have not been consistent and have been below the expected level.
“But we aim to set a new standard and level of experience for the players and hosting in general to ensure that we set a standard consistent with the international norms in terms of hosting.
“And for this reason we have set up a committee with highly experienced personnel who can ensure that we can deliver and they have been working hard to make sure we have the best tournament ever.”
Jani is also banking on their choice of venue, Prince Edward, to bring in the crowds.
“We are looking at having eight countries taking part in the qualifiers and that is a huge number in terms of hosting but we are happy that we managed to get Prince Edward as the host school because they have the infrastructure to take care of the situation.
“They have all the facilities we need at one place and these include the fields, the accommodation and the school is highly accessible both to the teams and the spectators, as it is more central. Given that this is the same place where the Cottco Schools rugby festival has been hosted over the years, they have proven that they have the ability to host such an international tournament.
“We are really focussing on making the teams feel as comfortable as possible and I would like to thank headmaster Kevin Atkinson for affording us an opportunity to host this event at the school. He really was excited when we approached him because he has always been a rugby loving person, his involvement in the sport is huge and the players we have are coming from the school as well,” said Jani.