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Paul Munyuki in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 rugby side go into battle against Kenya this afternoon at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit in their opening game of the Junior Africa Cup that also serves as the Junior World Rugby Trophy qualifier.Four teams are taking part in the competition that also features Zimbabwe’s bitter rivals Namibia and Madagascar who were promoted into the group last year in a tournament that was last held at Prince Edward School.
Zimbabwe struggled against Kenya in their opening game of the competition last year and the hosts were trailing 6-10 going into the second half and it had to take the heroics of Lance Chikodzi, who chipped in with a converted try, to snatch a very late win.
Chikodzi is one of the three players in the side who survived from last year’s squad that went on to lose to Namibia in the final and failed to qualify for the JWRT having made three consecutive appearances at the world tournament and also beating Namibia in each of the three editions.
Vice captain Chikodzi, captain Alva Senderai and Takudzwa Kumadiro are the only three players that have made it from last year’s squad while the duo of Tarisai Musakanda and Morgan Vague were dropped from the travelling party.
In the technical team several changes have also taken place as Zimbabwe are now coached by Nsikelelo “Sykes” Sibanda who replaced current head of technical Brighton Chivandire while Geoff Madhake replaced Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa as one of the assistant coaches.
Despite these changes Young Sables team manager, Blessing “Bhuru” Chiutare, feels it is not going to be easy for the team to make it for next year’s edition of the JWRT and their opening game will definitely have a huge impact.
The Harare Sports Club manager added they have no complains over the way they prepared for the annual youth tournament as he is happy with the way his side geared up in the last six months.
“Kenya will obviously be tougher than (they were) last year because they have managed to rope in a South African coach (Jerome Parwater) within their set up but we fancy our chances pretty well
“The boys are raring to go, of course not so many have experience at this level of competition but some have provincial caps which to us is good enough and they (the boys) feel they have a point to prove,” said Chiutare.
Parwater has experience, having played for Boland, coaching in Western Province as well as experience at Under-18 Craven Week, coaching South Western Districts to famous wins over Free State Cheetahs and Blue Bulls.
This year, the format of the tournament has also changed as games will no longer be played on a round robin basis, but teams will only play two games, the first being the semi-final while the second will either be the final of third place play-off.
And this means the Young Sables have to give their all against Kenya this afternoon if they fancy their chances of a 2014 Hong Kong JWRT ticket as a defeat would only mean they will be fighting to avoid relegation come Saturday.
“We had a long time to work with the players and we are happy with where we are compared to where we started from.
“We just need to be hard and show a bit if aggression.
“Our preparations went on for over five months, we had a couple of training camps firstly a two-day camp and another for a week.
“Of course, we would have loved to have a few guys from the Craven Week (Under-18) side but at the beginning of the camp we had an extended training squad of 70 from which we picked the travelling party,” added Chiutare.
The Kenyan team has been in non-residential training for the past four months under the tutelage of Paul Murunga and features some players with Kenya Cup experience such as KCB scrum half Marlin Mukolwe, UK-based Malcolm Onsando who featured for Kenya Harlequin prior to his departure abroad for further studies, among others.
Team:
Gabriel Spapati, Houghton Chachona, Tawanda Chipadza, F. Mungwari, Thulani Dhliwayo, A. Mathema, Shepard Mhembere, Newton Tanyanyiwa, Seb Roch, Alva Senderayi (captain), Tinashe Gwisai, S. Mwayera, Nyasha Chimedza, Malvern Maparura, Ngoni Chibuwe, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Takudzwa Francisco, Lloyd Mudzova, Bastion Mendelsohn, Lance Chikodzi, Mkululi Ndhlela, Kudakwashe Nhira, Andrew Mataga, Michael Gazimbi.
Coach: Nsikelelo Sibanda
Forwards: Geoffrey Madhake –
Backs Marvin Chirume
Manager: Blessing Chiutare
Online Reporter