Young Sables aim for glory at Craven Week

rugby_raymond_de_jongHARARE -- A confident Zimbabwe Under-18 rugby team leaves the country today aiming for glory at the 47th edition of the annual Coca Cola Craven Week tournament that explodes into life in Welkom, South Africa, tomorrow. (Pictured: UNSTOPPABLE. Former St Johns College schoolboy Ra

The Young Sables face Griqualand West Country Districts in their opening game in the 16-team provincial schoolboy rugby festival on Tuesday morning.

Coach Godwin Murambiwa’s 22-member squad is not short on potential having drawn the bulk of its players from the country’s schools rugby powerhouses such as St Johns College, who provided seven players, Prince Edward (five), St Georges College (four).

Murambiwa is confident that the array of talent and experience at his disposal will see his troops emulating the exploits of the 2007 national Under-18 team that made history by winning all their matches at the schoolboys rugby extravaganza.

The 2007 cycle of players ended in 2009 and we have been doing well in those years,” said Murambiwa who is also an International Rugby Board certified coaches instructor.

“But this new generation of players also have their own experiences. They consist of the first group of players to take part in the Under-14 Craven Week tournament, years back and that is a very good advantage they are taking into this years competition, he added.

The outcome of their first match against Griqualand West Country Districts on Tuesday will determine who they meet in their second match on Thursday.

The Zimbabweans are likely to play Namibia on Saturday in their last match as is the tradition that national teams close the show on the last day of the rugby festival.

Zimbabwe and Namibia have been the only two foreign teams to take part in the competition in recent years.

Zimbabwe Under-18 Team: Corry Van Rensburg (Falcon), Claude Bare (PE), Takudzwa Chieza (PE), Gareth Meikle, Takudzwa Chipuma (St Johns), Ulrich Konpchou (St Johns) Jacobus Pieters (St Johns) Justin Coles (St Johns), Farai Jijita (PE), Hopewell Tembo (St Georges), Boris Mwambo (St Johns), Graham Logan (St Johns), Ian Muza (PE), Ben Viljoen (Lomagundi), Kelvin Swan (St Johns).

Substitutes: MurrayRodgers (Lomagundi), Simon Kadirire (St Georges), Mathew Lawson (St Georges), Sean Tobert (Lomagundi), Kyle Lucas (St Georges), Billen Coetzee (Peterhouse), Victor Mushoriwa (PE).

Head Coach: Godwin Murambiwa

Assistant Coach: Ryan Barbour

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