ZIMBABWE national Under-20 rugby team coach, Farai Mahari has expressed his delight with the unity as well as enthusiasm displayed by his lads during their three-day camp in Bulawayo which saw them beat Matabeleland Warriors 45-24 in a friendly match played at Petra High School on Saturday.

The Young Sables were in the City of Kings as part of their preparations for next month’s Barthes Cup from where the top team out of the four African countries participating will earn the ticket to the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy to be played in Uruguay from 29 August to 10 September.

Mahari, who had 40 players over the three days in Bulawayo said he was impressed by the way his lads applied themselves playing against season players. He however feels they have to work on their defensive line speed, tackling and accuracy at the breakdown.

“I was really impressed by team unity, attacking enthusiasm, game attitude especially playing some astute knowledgeable veterans. Areas we need to work on are consistency of our defensive line speed, tackling technique, breakdown accuracy, defensive organisation post fourth and fifth phase and execution of our counter attacking pattern,’’ said Mahari.

Against Warriors, the tries were scored by Enrique Ndlovu, Jeremiah Jaravani, Shingirai Hlanguyo, Gregory Mhindu, Shingirai Katsvere and Moses Gunda.

On Sunday, before those based outside Bulawayo departed, the players were taken through an anti-doping talk by the team physiotherapist, Margaret Gibson so as to ensure the youngsters are fully aware of which substances are banned.

Mahari called for more sponsors to come through to make sure that the last three weeks of preparations are a success. Some of the financial as well as material support has so far been received from Doves Funeral Services, Zimbabwe Rugby Union vice president in charge of national teams, Tapiwa Mangezi, parents of the players and the technical team.

“Doves Funeral Services have been awesome with supplying transport, driver and fuel for us to go wherever we need to go. Food and accommodation has been covered by parents, the technical team and ZRU VP Tapiwa Mangezi so far. So we really need sponsors to come on board especially going into the last three weeks of preparations,’’ said Mahari.

He also paid tribute to the Matabeleland Rugby Referees Society, under the leadership of Simbarashe Dangah who handled Saturday’s friendly and explained certain aspects of the laws of the game which were not clear to the players.

“Very importantly I also need to thank Matabeleland Referees Association especially Simbarashe Dangah, who not only showed up but refereed in the context of what was needed by explaining grey area and ensuring that from a laws perspective the players understand areas of emphasis and World Rugby's attitude to positive rugby, reckless/dangerous tackles and collision into ruck sequence,’’ Mahari said.

The team will hold its final camp in Harare for 32 players from 6 April at Churchill High School from where a final squad of 25 is set to be named on 15 April prior to the team’s departure for Madagascar where the tournament runs from 17 to 23 April.

Zimbabwe have been given an opportunity to have a shot at qualifying for the World Rugby second tier Under-20 tournament after they lost 42-29 to Namibia at the African qualifiers held in Windhoek, Namibia last year. The Young Sables, led by Sam Phiri were actually leading that final 29-28 with 14 minutes left but a couple of mistakes got them punished by the Namibians.

Indications are that unlike in previous years when the qualifiers are held a year before, World Rugby have re-aligned the format such that the qualifiers and the tournament are held the same year. Zimbabwe will play against Kenya in the semi-finals while Namibia take on Madagascar with the winner going on to clash in the final to decide the Africa representative in Uruguay.

@Mdawini_29