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Brandon Moyo – [email protected]

CHRISTIAN Brothers College (CBC) and Falcon College produced most of the players that were selected to the Matabeleland Under-19s and Under-17s rugby teams after trials on Saturday.

The trials were held at CBC and the hosts contributed five players in the Under-19s A team while Falcon had 10 in a team made up of 15 players. In the B-team, the hosts had the most players with six and Falcon had three in a team made up of 23 players picked from four schools.

In the Under-17s team, CBC had nine players make the team while Falcon had 17 representatives in the 37-member squad. The rest of the players were from Petra College, Milton Boys High School, Plumtree High School and Western Suburbs Panthers. Northlea High School and Gifford Boys High School also had players participating in the trials but none managed to make the final cut.

The selected players will represent the province in the national trials that will be held at Falcon College next weekend. The national trials will be used to select the Zimbabwe schools rugby teams. For some of the players, it will not be something new having represented Zimbabwe at junior level from Under-14s.

Some of the players who have had a dance with Zimbabwe include Huntsman Greaves (U-14 2028), Huggins Machaka (U-14 2028), Nokutenda Mukumba (U-14 2028), Anthony Gliwitzki (U-17 2022), Michael Chimedza (U-17 2022), Tatenda Runyowa (U-18 20220, Thabani Ndlovu(U-18 2022) and Tafadzwa Tigere (U-18 2022).

Administrator and head in charge of rugby at Falcon College, Jacob Mariba said the objective of the trials is Zimbabwe Rugby’s way of selecting a schools select side and the trials are also a way of growing the sport in the region.

“Year on year we do school rugby trials and basically this is Zimbabwe Rugby’s way of selecting players from schools so that they can have a schools select side for the Craven Week Festival. It’s a way of growing rugby as a sport but also showcasing the talent that we have in the Matabeleland province,” said Mariba.

Having two sides, in the Under-19s, is a way of trying to have more Matabeleland representation in the select team and Mariba believes the quality is there. In first team games played, Petra College beat Western Suburbs 10-0 while Milton thumped Plumtree 22-0 before Falcon College made light work of CBC, beating them 57-12.

Matabeleland U-19 A: Anesu Mawere (Falcon), Tatenda Runyowa (Falcon), Huntsman Greaves (Falcon), Anthony Gliwitzki (CBC), Thabani Ndlovu (Falcon), Tristan Burton (Falcon), Nokutenda Mukumba (Falcon), Sonny Brebner (Falcon), James Zisanhi (CBC), Tawanda Chisungo (Falcon), Babongile Ncube (CBC), Michael Chimedza (CBC), Huggins Machaka (Falcon), Sean Mutazu (CBC), Tafadzwa Tigere (Falcon)

Matabeleland U-19 B: Khayalethu Moyo (CBC), Prince Ncube (CBC), Vidal Bravo (CBC), Akim Ncube (Milton), Shitto Ngonidzashe (Milton), Adrian Ncube (Petra), Dominic Mckechnie (Falcon), Ethan Fergurson (CBC), Mayibongwe Ncube (Milton), Unathi Ndiweni (CBC), Michael French (Petra), Tinavapi Cuthbert (CBC), Bernard Njaravani (Milton), Bradley Wentzel (Falcon), Dyhndra Mckay (Milton), Matthew Van Rensburg (Petra), Hopewell Matsika (CBC), Anthony Manuwere (Milton), Renatho Ndou (Falcon), Aiden Bhauti (CBC), Spencer Dube (Plumtree), Munashe Ziwewe (Plumtree), Thomas Hensman (Petra)

Matabeleland U-17: M Mugari (Falcon), K Vimba (CBC), Z Sibanda (Falcon), P Denhere (Falcon), L Moyo (CBC), E Sibanda (Milton), J Littlewood (Falcon), S Wenham (Falcon), O Chinhamo (CBC), O R Zietsman (Falcon), Duckworth (Falcon), S Sibanda (CBC), E Fouche  (Falcon), E Chitenga (CBC), T.V Dimhairo (Falcon), L Moyo (Plumtree), B Makhohliso (Petra), M Mafu (Plumtree), K Mpofu (CBC), M Phiri (Western Suburbs), J Thompson (Falcon), F Moyo (Plumtree), C Mhlanga (Plumtree), T Muwanza (Milton), A Carle (Falcon), H Homera (CBC), NS Rosenfels (Falcon), Z Chikungura (Falcon), M Stanley (Falcon), D Nhidza (Falcon), N Musendo (CBC), T Muller (Falcon), R Kelly (Falcon), L Nkiwane (Plumtree), T Dube (Western), M Liebenberg (CBC), B Makhohliso (Petra). – @brandon_malvin