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Davison Bhunu,Sports Reporter

BLACK RHINOS coach Herbert Maruwa has survived the chop while the army side have roped in Jairos Tapera as manager ahead of the 2020 Castle Lager Premiership football season.

Maruwa’s future at the helm of Chauya Chipembere has been in doubt after the club finished a lowly 10th-place in the 2019 season despite a strong start.

But the team’s newly-elected executive has resolved to give the former Dynamos assistant another bite at the cherry this coming season.

Maruwa’s career has not been without controversy after former manager Gift “Guava” Kamuriwo was implicated in match-fixing allegations involving relegation-threatened Herentals in October last year.

But Maruwa’s hands were found to be clean while Kamuriwo has since been dismissed even though the case is still pending before the Premier Soccer League’s Disciplinary Committee.

And Tapera, who was sacked at TelOne mid-last season, has been given the stick to manage the army side.

“We have roped in Jairos (Tapera) as the manager of the squad. We know he has the capacity to manage a club of our magnitude. We resolved that he works with the technical team which we have just installed,” said team secretary Edward Mutukwa.

Thomas Ruzive has been retained as the first assistant coach to Maruwa with Charles Mutero roped in as the second assistant while Britto Gwere has been dropped in favour of Ndega Matsika as the goalkeepers’ coach.

Legend Stanford “Stix” M’tizwa also makes a return to the club as the chief scout and he will be helped deliver that mandate by Ignatious Kapitapita.

With the team resigned to lose their best player, Wellington Taderera, to Ngezi Platinum as well as Jameson Mukombwe, who is on his way to Triangle, Dynamos striker Tawanda Macheke is close to be snatched by the army side.

The team will also hold trials starting next week with a two-week training camp set for Kariba following up next as the ambitious new executive looks to make an immediate          impact.

Black Rhinos are as well set to use Chinhoyi Stadium for their home matches this coming season as they want to build their own fan base outside the capital where the only two stadiums — Rufaro and the National Sports Stadium —cannot accommodate seven clubs from the city in the top-flight.