The ManicaPost
Sports Correspondent
MANICALAND will this year write its own history by sending its first girls rugby teams to the 2017 edition of the annual Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival, the biggest schools rugby showcase in the country.
The annual prestigious schools rugby festival will as usual run for a week from Sunday till next week Saturday.
Apart from that the province will also send its biggest ever number of schools following initiatives that were started last year by the Zimbabwe Rugby Union’s Manicaland board to grow the sport at grassroots level in rural schools.
Apart from the common schools like Hillcrest College, Mutare Boys’ High, St Faith’s, Vengere High, Marist Brothers and Gaza High that have been attending the Dairibord Rugby Festival over the years, this year will see the addition of Sagambe High, Muterere High, St Columbus’, Sahumani High, St Mathias Tsonzo and Bonda Mission all from Mutasa District.
Mutasa Zone E, a developmental select side comprising players from rural schools in Mutasa such as Chavhanga High, Chisuko High, Nyamhingura and St Peter’s will also take part this year.
Manicaland Rugby Board chairman, Josiah Borerwe, said the development was a result of ongoing initiatives to cascade rugby to rural schools.
He said Mutasa District was the pilot project as they hope to expand to other districts. “I am very elated about this year’s development as it shows the fruits of concerted efforts by many people in the past year. Most of the work has been voluntary through our PDOs (Provincial Development Officers).
“In Mutasa, the likes of Phanuel Toro and Shepherd Mundozi have been very instrumental in coaching rugby in many of the schools,” said Borerwe.
The schools which will provide girls rugby teams are Sagambe (Under-17), St Columbus’ (U-20), Sahumani (U-20), St Mathias Tsonzo (U-20) and Bonda (U-20).
Dairibord Festival director, Tawanda Jimu on Tuesday confirmed that 160 teams will take part.
He added that 34 girls’ teams and four regional teams from Zambia, Namibia and Botswana were invited to take part. Botswana will come with two schools to make them four.
“I really want to comment efforts being made countrywide to grow the festival and the sport of rugby especially the strides being made in Manicaland in rural schools. We are looking forward to seeing how the schools will play,” said Jimu.
The annual rugby festival that has been running for over 20 years has not only been an ideal platform to nurture developmental schools rugby, but also showcases the best schools rugby talent in the country.
