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Junior World Rugby Trophy tournament set for Georgia later this month.
The two were yesterday part of the Under-20 squad that went through their paces at Prince Edward School in the morning training session.
After impressing during the Young Sables game against the Under-23 select at the Cottco schools rugby festival on Friday, coaches Brighton Chivandire and his assistant Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa decided to include the two in their squad.
Having played as the Under-23 select fullback, Tshuma’s performance during the game tempted the Young Sables technical team to have another look at the dreadlocked fullback.
Tshuma was not just the fullback during Friday’s game but he was also a key player in that he managed several points for the Under-23 select side through penalties and conversions.
And yesterday the young Old Boy was part of the Young Sables squad that saw Charles Jiji and Takura Tela sit out of training due to knocks they received on Friday.
Tapiwa Chikaka also joined the squad while the duo of Marco Mama and Graham Logan are expected in this week as they are writing college exams.
Chivandire said this was part of the selection process and this will continue until the day they leave for the Junior World Cup tournament at the end of next week.
“We are still looking at the players that we feel will make the final squad and until the day we leave, all we have at the moment are provisional players for the squad.
“Those that are in camp have to work hard to impress us because there is no one who is guaranteed of a place and this is why Lungile and Sinclair have joined the squad.
“So the door is not yet closed and we will ask any player to come because we will not shut the door and until the end of the camp there could be opportunities,” said the former Sables coach.
The Young Sables side is camping at Prince Edward School where they are training twice a day with the morning session running between 6am and 8am while the afternoon session starts at 4pm.
The towering coach believes their game against the Under-23 Select side on Friday gave them an insight into the kind of players they have, the tactics they can employ and which areas need attention.
“Definitely we identified areas of weakness and there are some areas of concern of course so we are going to work on those specific areas.
“But I think it would have been better if we had had a chance of looking at all the players. Remember, Marco and Graham are not yet in due to educational commitments.
“However, we managed to, at least, have a look at those that were here. We tried most of our combinations that is about 60 percent of them but the rest we could not.”
The Young Sables were down 3-17 to the Under-23 Select side on Friday but they managed 14 unanswered points in the second half to salvage a draw against the tough senior side.
The Young Sables were dominated in the first half but forward play paid in the second half with captain Takudzwa Mandiwanza and Tatenda Karuru coming in with important tries.
“I am happy to say that there were a lot of positives from the game on Friday, especially in the second half where we changed certain areas and the team played much better.
“The game was all about trying combinations and in the first half we were down because we had a different style so we had to change in the second half to see what would work best.
“But today (yesterday morning) we had a little run around and we were mainly focusing on player reactions. We started off slowly and things went right,” added Chivandire.
Meanwhile, national women’s coach and Harare Sports Club head of technical, Nsikelelo Sibanda, believes the non-traditional rugby playing schools that graced the Cottco schools festival this year were better than in previous years.
“They are interpreting the laws of the game better and when you call for off-side they are quick to respond and that’s something they were not doing last year.
“The girls were playing for the first time and it will be unfair to judge their performance now since it is a new thing to them. But the big problem is in adjusting from the Sevens they are used to,” said the Pangolins coach.
Air Force coach and referee, Chekisi Vurayai, was impressed by the way the girls played, especially that they were playing XV’s for the first time.
“I am sure it is a good start for the girls and like in any other game they can only improve with time and since this is their first time in the longer version of the game, they have shown some good signs.
“They tried hard to shift from the Sevens type of play to the XV’s and that is where the major challenge was, as they have been involved in Sevens only for the past three years.
“Most of these girls teams here have been training for XV’s for about a month now but I am happy that my side (Roosevelt) showed good signs, especially in the line,” said Vurayai.