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Grace Chingoma-Senior Sports Reporter

AFTER lifting the Barthes Trophy in Kenya over the weekend, the Junior Sables’ dream is to represent Zimbabwe at the Rugby World Cup in the future. 

The Zimbabwe Under-20 team believe that they are the future of rugby in this country and have a high chance of growing into a formidable side. 

They think that with the right support, they can feature at the 2027 Rugby World Cup. 

With the 2023 Rugby World Cup around the corner as it will take place in France from September 8 to October, the Junior Sables believe that they can dare to dream. 

The next edition of the Rugby World Cup will be played in Australia in 2027. 

The Junior Sables are still basking in the glory of lifting the Barthes Trophy which gave them a ticket to feature at the Junior World Trophy in July. 

And the Junior Sables vice-captain Tanaka GondoMukandapi and fly half Brendan Marume’s message when they arrived at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport from Kenya on Monday was “Rugby World Cup 2027”. 

The current team has been consistent and playing together in competitive games since they won last year’s Barthes Trophy. 

The Old Georgians player GondoMukandapi said despite some harsh conditions in Kenya, the boys managed to deliver the goods. 

“The boys understood the assignment very well. The red card (in the final) affected us but we all played like we were still 15 players, even our scrumming got better towards the end even though we were one man down. 

“It was great to see everyone was on the same page and wanted the victory the same way and it was exciting. 

“The crowd was electric and there were a lot of emotions in the game and the result came through, we are very excited,” said GondoMukandapi. 

Marume, who is going overseas, says he is looking forward to improving his rugby and returning a better player. 

The Junior Sables skipper, Panashe Zuze, said they are looking forward to the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy which is two and half months away. It will be played at the same venue where the Junior Sables lifted the Barthes Trophy over the weekend. 

The second tier World Rugby Under-20 Trophy is the second level of the World Rugby tournament structure for Under-20 national sides in which champions qualify for the top-tier competition, World Rugby U-20 Championship 2024. Zimbabwe will join seven other countries at the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy finals. They are Kenya who qualified as hosts, Scotland, who were relegated from the World Rugby U-20 Championship in 2019, Hong Kong (Asia), Samoa (Oceania), Spain (Europe), Uruguay (South America) and North America winners between USA and Canada. 

The Junior Sables are in Pool A alongside Scotland Uruguay and Canada/USA. Pool B has Spain, Samoa, Kenya and Hong Kong China.

Zuze concedes that the World Trophy is definitely different from the Barthes Trophy and all the other games they have been playing.

“The level has gone up and when we go to the World Trophy, we need the right mindset ready and we will be ready to work and won’t be scared,” said Zuze. The diminutive scrum-half, who is not afraid of being bullied around due to his height, said they wanted to show everyone that there is talent in Zimbabwe. 

“We thank the Almighty for making it possible. The weather condition changed a lot and it was tough, we had a red card but we managed to win. 

“This year we wanted to prove a point, every team that came to us, we wanted to express ourselves and show that there is talent in Zimbabwe,” said Zuze. 

The Junior Sables will rest for one week before they regroup for the World Trophy finals. Zimbabwe coach Shaun De Souza said when they resume their preparations he will call the players that are in the academy set up. The technical team will also have the players who are playing in the United States and the United Kingdom when they come for the summer break next month.