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Innocent Kurira
NOTHING will excite the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) more than winning the Barthes Trophy treble.
The union has declared their unwavering support to the national Under-20 coaches as they aim to win the Barthes Trophy tournament to be held in Harare in April.
Coach Shaun De Souza this week announced an 80-men Zimbabwe Under-20 High-Performance squad for the Nedbank Rugby Challenge.
The Junior Sables have been afforded two slots at the competition which include a developmental team for the local pre-season club competition.
ZRU vice president Martin Shone said: “As a union, we are doing all we can to support the Junior Sables. Our task is to make sure we adequately prepare for the competition. We believe the Nedbank Challenge will offer the Junior Sables enough preparation for the Barthes Trophy which we will be hosting. We are looking forward to hosting a successful tournament and hopefully, we will defend our title,” said Shone.
The Junior Sables are the Barthes Trophy defending champions and will be looking to make it three wins in a row after claiming the 2022 and 2023 editions’ titles.
The winner of this year’s Barthes Trophy will then join Uruguay, the Netherlands, and the United States of America or Canada in Pool B of the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy set for July 2-17 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Zimbabwe Under-20s are in camp with De Souza hoping to use the Nedbank Rugby Challenge, which is a local pre-season tournament, as part of his preparations for both the Barthes Trophy and, hopefully, the Junior World Trophy.
The competition is named after the late World Rugby’s Services Manager for Africa, Jean-Luc Barthes.
Organised by Rugby Africa, the Barthes Under-20 Trophy is the official African Rugby Championship for national teams in the age bracket.
The Barthes Trophy has unearthed future stars of the African game over the years and continues to serve as a talent identification platform and elite player pathway.
The tournament, which serves as Africa’s Under-20 championship features eight teams and is played on a knock-out basis.
In 2022 Zimbabwe were crowned champions after they beat Namibia 19-14 to end an 11-year drought for the trophy.
Last year they won the competition after trouncing Kenya 28-7.
Online Reporter