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Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union annual meeting is set to take place on Sunday at Prince Edward School with sponsorship and the league format expected to be some of the hot issues on the agenda.

Following their take over of the running of the domestic competition from the National Rugby League that was led by Noddy Kangangarara at the beginning of this year, the ZRU have set up a committee that will be in charge of the games but they are yet to come out with a comprehensive league programme.

Indications are that there will not be any national league, instead teams will play in their respective provinces and Harare will have seven teams in the main competition, but the problem is that the format is not in the best interests of the game’s development.

This means teams like Mutare Sports Club — who were part of the teams in the then national league — will only be able to play any of the Harare teams as and when they are able to travel to Harare as all the teams from the capital have indicated they can’t travel out of town.

It is a similar case for Gweru Sports Club and Zvishavane Bulls who will be confined to their respective towns and will only play any of the Bulawayo teams as and when they are able to travel and play in the Matabeleland leagues.

The format has largely been viewed by the rugby fraternity as retarding the development of the game in the provinces that were beginning to spread the game mostly to the lower or less privileged players.

However, the ZRU argue that they do not have funding or sponsorship to make sure that they support these teams, urging them to find own sponsorship or bankroll their travelling costs if they still want to play the game.