adminWeek Sevens rugby festival set for Rastenburg, South Africa.
For more than 40 years, the Craven Week organisers were only running the weeklong XVs version of the game but this year saw the introduction of the shorter version in the tournament.
Zimbabwe are in the same pool with the Blue Bulls, Griquas, Leopards and Border Country Districts and more than 20 provincial teams are expected to compete in the tournament that gets underway today.
Captained by Zimbabwe Under-19 and St. John’s College centre Preston Bryant, the local side has a number of experienced players who were part of the Zimbabwe Under-19 side that won the right to represent the continent at the 2012 edition of the Junior World Rugby Trophy.
Bryant was also part of the Under-18 side that took on the British Barbarians early this year before he was named in the Craven Week side for the XVs version.
He was also part of the Goshawks side that took part in the Castle Sevens tournament in Zambia and despite coming back empty-handed, it was the exposure that counted.
However, the centre is not the only experienced player in the side as there is also Prince Edward and Zimbabwe Under-19 flanker Tapiwa Tsomondo and James Forrester.
Wilson Seremani was also part of the highly-rated Harare Lions side that was the only Zimbabwe side to defeat the British Barbarians while Zimbabwe Under-19 flyhalf Lenience Tambwera also made it into the team.
But for the Sevens side, it is not only the experience on the field that they are banking on as former Zimbabwe Sables and Cheetahs great Andy Ferreiara will be calling the shots from the bench with the assistance of Garry “Gaza” Hewitt.
On Sunday, the schools side held a combined training session with the Cheetahs who are also preparing for the Rastenburg Sevens with the senior side’s manager Bruce Hobson using the event to assess potential players.
As has been the tradition with the XVs version of the Craven Week, Zimbabwe and Namibia will be the only national teams taking part at the tournament.
However, most of the Zimbabwe players in the side will not only be using the festival as a platform to exhibit their talent and lure scouts but use it to compete for a place in the JWRT side.
Meanwhile, former Sables winger and Under-20 chairman Aaron Jani said they have made a number of changes to their structures so that they will realise their goal of finishing among the top four teams and have an automatic qualification for the following year’s tournament.
“We saw that we were not getting a higher level of the game in preparation 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 respective structures in our set-up, I am sure the goal is very realistic.
“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.
Squad
Preston Bryant (captain) James Forrester, Wilson Seremani, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Brian Ndudzo, Zak Nel, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Leinence Tambwera, Reece Comerbach, Mark Wright, Gareth Meikle, Richard Chigumba
Coach: Andy Ferreira, Assistant: Gary Hewitt
Manager: Steve MacDonald.
Online Reporter