Zimbabwe has potential: French rugby coach

Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent

VISITING France rugby coach, Jean-Marc Bederede believes there is potential in local rugby that must be supplemented with improvement in structures of the game.

Bederede, who is in the country at the invitation of Christian Brothers College, said the young rugby players he has dealt with have shown a lot of potential but there is need to widen pool of youngsters taking up the game.

He said with improvements in the sport’s structures and organisation the standard of the game could rise. Bederede arrived in the country last Saturday and has done coaching clinic with the CBC rugby team and coaching staff and a western suburb select.

“I have seen a lot of support for the young rugby players and for me this is critical if they are going to progress and achieve more in the sport, I am impressed by the big community providing assistance to ensure improvement in the game. There is need for more players to play the game at a young age as it increases chances of coming up with good players,” he said.

Bederede however, said improvements to the game will not be an overnight success as this will take several years. Bederede was the defence coach of France’s national team that recently took part in the 2019 Rugby World Cup that was held in Japan.

CBC director of rugby, Brighton Chivandire said they were hoping their coaches and players would pick new approaches to the game while getting a different perspective from Bederede.

He said he was hopeful they would learn new defence principles that would assist them in the coming season. Bederede was in the country three years ago and did a coaches’ course in Harare along with a coaching clinic with various schools and the national Under-20 team.

Bederede has vast experience in dealing with the juniors, having been in charge of the French Under-18 team for several years, he is also a former 3rd line of FC Auch, former regional technical adviser of the Armagnac-Bigorre committee who has become a national coach in the national technical directorate (DTN), is a member of the management team of Rugby France.