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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
VETERAN Bulawayo rugby development coach George “Rollo” Mukorera has appealed to the corporate world to help revive the sport in the City of Kings as players making the national team grade continue to decrease in the city.

South African-based Biselele Tshamala is the only player from Bulawayo in the senior national team presently preparing for the Africa Cup Division 1A clash against Tunisia at Prince Edward High School on Saturday.

Irvine “Bhudah” Nduwa and Andrea Banda are some of the Bulawayo players that had been shortlisted for national duty, but fell by the wayside when the final squad was announced.

Mukorera cited lack of activity in club rugby as the major cause of decline in Bulawayo rugby.

Bulawayo clubs include Busters, Old Miltonians, Western Panthers and Bulldogs.

Mukorera, who is the Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB)’s development coach, said it was imperative to establish a rugby academy in the city to keep players active.

Although there is a lot of activity at school level, he said promising talent had been wasted since the National Rugby League was discontinued midway through 2014.

“Our players need conditioning. Most players (from Bulawayo) were exposed as unfit at the national team trials a few weeks ago. Club rugby is dead in this part of the country and players only train once a week with their respective sides for about two hours, which is not enough,” said Mukorera.

The National Rugby League was disbanded by the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) around August last year due to lack of funding.

ZRU suggested that Northern Region and Southern Region teams compete against each other in localised leagues to ensure the sport does not die.

Southern Region teams were supposed to compete in the Mid-Mat League, which incorporates teams from Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, but lack of resources has resulted in the games failing to take off.

“Our Northern Region counterparts have academies and play rugby every week. For that reason, you find that Harare players dominate national teams because they are better than our guys. If we can get corporate backing and set up an academy, that would enable our players to train throughout the week and help improve the state of rugby at senior level,” he said.

Mukorera and his development team, which includes former Sables player Reuben Kumpasa, has been busy scouting and conducting coaching clinics at schools through a development initiative sponsored by Old Mutual.

Through this initiative, they have managed to assemble provincial teams for the Under-14s, Under-16s and Under-19s.

MRFB intends to establish two provincial sides — an Under-23 and senior side — that will embark on regional tours to generate renewed interest in rugby.

“We are losing players after junior tournaments like the Zimbo Under-21 Cup and the Under-23s can bridge that gap.

“If we can get sponsors, we have to think of ways that excite players and challenge them to take the sport seriously. Bulawayo really has talented players who are capable of making the national team grade, but they have totally lost interest in rugby. Organising regional tours to South Africa, Zambia and Botswana will hopefully reignite enthusiasm like that shown in the schools’ rugby,” Mukorera said.