CHAIRMAN - 6th April 2011 - Zim Newspaper Article

BRITISH rugby side the Barbarians Under-18 team is expected in the country next week for their weeklong tour of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Under-18 coach Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa yesterday indicated that the side – that is comprised of top rugby playing schoolboys from England – will be visiting Zimbabwe for the first time in 15 years.

The side is set to take on four teams in Zimbabwe with their first game set for April 9 where they will take on Brighton Chivandire’s provincial side Harare Lions at Prince Edward School.

Two days later they will be in Lomagundi where they are set to take on a Districts side that comprises of schools from Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West.

From there they have the big one against the Zimbabwe Under-19 side at St John’s College on April 13 before taking on the Goshawks Schools at the same venue two days later.

Murambiwa highlighted the selection criteria used in choosing the players that will represent the respective local sides as they are yet to conduct the official selection.

“The official selection starts when the schools rugby league starts and as of now it has not yet started so we selected the players in such a way that we gave first preference to those that played at the Craven Week last year.

“From there, those who played provincial rugby, be it Mashonaland East or Matabeleland North depending on the team they are going to be facing, will also be selected.

“But players that are Under-20 will not be eligible to play because here we are looking at those that are 19 especially those who played in the JWRT qualifiers last year in Côte d’Ivoire and those that could make it for the Craven Week this year,” said the former Sables coach.

However, the side that is likely to benefit the most will be the Zimbabwe Under-20 side who will also be preparing for the Junior World Rugby Trophy set for Georgia a month later.

But the Zimbabwe technical side will not field their full strength side as some of the players are over 19 years since the British are bringing in their Under-18s.

And this means senior players like forwards Takudzwa Mandiwanza, Tatenda Karuru, back liners Charles Jiji, Marco Mama and Takudzwa Jaravaza will miss the game while Cheetahs player Justine Coles is eligible.
Murambiwa, who will be in charge of the Under-19 side, added that this will be a good opportunity for the technical team to fully test some of the junior players.

But after taking part at the JWRT, the Zimbabwe side will be back in the hunt for another African title when they will host the Junior Africa Cup.

Zimbabwe are in the same pool with rivals Namibia, Uganda and Tunisia who the Young Sables have all beaten in the past tournaments to lift the junior title.

The tournament is made up of two pools with Pool B consisting of Morocco, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia but the draw does not make sense as teams were supposed to have been seeded according to how they finished last year