CAPE TOWN - The Zimbabwe Under-13 school’s rugby side get the ball rolling at the Craven Week when they take on Griquas in the first game of the Youth Weeks series at the Paarl Gymnasium School in Paarl near Cape Town on Monday morning.

Kick-off is 9.30am

Last year Zimbabwe lost 7-15 to Griquas in their second game of the competition but would like to get a better result this time around with team manager Tan Dinhidza saying they are aiming for the best performance.

 It was at the same edition of the competition that they came out without a win but showed they could get better with each passing game, drawing the last 14-14 against Freestate Cheetahs after a 13-14 loss to Namibia.

A few moments after the Under-13’s battle against Griquas, the Zimbabwe Under-17 side will be on the park for a date against Border Country Districts in the Grant Khomo Week and would like to better their record of two wins they registered last year.

 Their only loss came at the hands of Griquas Under-16 with a close 17-20 loss while scores of 36-3 and 21-7 saw them get the better of Border Country Districts and rivals Namibia.

The rest of their opponents will be based on their performance after Day Ones’ play.

“I think this is good that these two tournament take place at the same time especially for the Under-13 side because they will also get to watch the senior players in action. It gives great exposure to the boys as they will be watching better quality rugby and also learning at the same time. So at the end of the tournament their (rugby) knowledge would be big,” said Dinhidza.

The Under-13 9.30am games will be followed by the opening round of U16 Coca-Cola Grant Khomo Week matches at 10.30am.

The schedule indicates that only the Under-13 teams will be in action on Tuesday and Thursday, while the Under-16 teams will take to the field on Wednesday but both age-groups will be in action on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Under-18 girls’ schools side will also be in action in Kimberly at the National Girls Under-18 Week, at the Northern Cape High School.