‘Zim will set standard’

platform for the country to set a new standard in hosting such events in Africa.
The annual junior tournament will be held at Prince Edward School from July 23-30 and the former Sables winger believes Zimbabwe will stage a flawless event.

The Under-19 tournament also doubles as the qualifier for the Junior World Rugby Trophy that Zimbabwe has qualified for on two consecutive occasions. The Young Sables are the defending Africa Cup champions.

The Young Sables beat Namibia in two successive years to qualify for the Junior World Rugby Trophy and this time they will get a chance to defend the African title on home soil.
Zimbabwe have been training at Prince Edward under the watchful eye of coach Brighton Chivandire.

Chivandire was on Sunday joined by his trusted assistant Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa who was in charge of the Under-18 side at the just ended Craven Week festival in South Africa.
The Young Sables have been drawn in Pool A where they take on bitter rivals Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda while Pool B comprises Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco and Zambia.

Having won the right to host the tournament after years of being turned down, Jani believes his committee is working hard to put up a perfect show when the tournament kicks of on Saturday.
“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 international norms.
“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,” said Jani.

The Harare businessman showered praises on his organising committee, which he said is working hard to make sure everything will be ready by the time the teams arrive.
“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 Foam, 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,” he said.
While most of the international games have, of late, been held at Harare Sports Club, Jani reckoned that Prince Edward could do the trick for them as the venue is central and most of the players are just coming from school.

“Eight countries will be taking part 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.
“We are trying to make the event as big as possible and we have also set up some corporate tents around the field for the convenience of the respective companies.

“Given that this is the same place where the Cottco Schools rugby festival has been hosted over the years, Prince Edward 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.
In the current Zimbabwe Rugby Union set-up, the Under-20 side acts as the main feeder to the Sables and this year alone five players have come through from the Under-20 side.

Energetic scrum half Charles Jiji, fullback Daniel Robertson, flyhalf Thomas Nelson, lock Schalk Ferreira, hooker Tatenda Karuru and prop Brian Makamure are some of the players that have graduated from the junior side in the past year.

“It is good that we won the bid 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.