The third edition of the AMG Global Junior Rugby Coaching Festival got underway at Falcon College on Thursday with the youngsters taking part getting some expert coaching before they played matches in the afternoon.

In the morning, the five South African coaches, Delarey du Preez, Norman Jordaan, Eugene Eloff, Sean Everett and Marius Hurter together with Zimbabwe Sables assistant coach took the players as well as their mentors through certain aspects of the game. All the South African coaches are from the Durban based Investec Rugby Academy.

After lunch, the teams got to play against each other with at least one match for all the teams participating in the fiesta. In the matches involving first teams, Falcon College defeated Christian Brothers College 43-0 while Lomagundi College conquered CBC 27-7.

Festival director Orlando Fernandes expressed his satisfaction with the way things turned out on the opening day which did come with its minor challenges.

“I am really happy with how things went on the first day, we did have a few challenges with some teams not having enough players but that has been taken care of, we expect things to move smoothly going forward,’’ Fernandes said.

The matches were watched by Sables coach Peter de Villiers, backline mentor Stanley Raubenheimer and the national team players who will be holding a camp at Falcon College from 4 to 7 May.

As per the tradition, a dinner was held for the visiting coaches in Bulawayo on the opening day, a function which was attended by Falcon College headmaster Reginald Querl, his wife Martha, sponsors and some of the Sables players.

Besides AMG Global, some of the major bankrollers of the junior rugby fiesta are Zimbabwe Lithium, Flo Petroleum, Fawcett Security, Proton, Associated Tyres, Colovane Services, PPC Cement, Ecobank, Ecological Safaris and Tesa Fencing.

AMG Global Junior Rugby Festival first day full results

Highlands Under-13 24-0 Whitestone Under-13, CBC Under-14 40-0 MCC Under-14, Petra Under-13 10-15 Barwick Under-13, Falcon College 1st 43-0 CBC 1st, Highlands Under-13 19-0 Gateway Under-13, Wise Owl Under-14 0-30 Lomagundi Under-14, Western Suburbs Under-14 10-5 Falcon College Under-14, Lomagundi 1st  27-7 CBC 1st

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