competition and administration.
Among the top schools in this franchise are traditional giants St Johns College, Peterhouse College, Prince Edward, Falcon, Lomagundi, Churchill and St George’s College.
These are the teams that are generally used as a yardstick for the standard of the game at this level of competition and their performance against South African schools says a lot about Zimbabwe.
Just before the Cottco Schools festival, top side St Johns College went on a tour of South Africa where they performed dismally losing by 80 points to Affies who are ranked second Down South.
Other schools in this league include 2011 top seeds Grey College, King Edward VII, Selborne College, Waterkloof and Queens College who are all in current top 10.
If Zimbabwe schools struggle against these sides, it becomes obvious that the standard of play in this country has gone down and this has been the case in the past few years.
Most of the players in the Zimbabwe Under-18 to Under-20 national teams come from these local schools and for this reason Zimbabwe has managed to dominate in Africa, winning the last two consecutive Junior Africa Cups.
The Junior Africa Cup is used as a qualifier for the Junior Rugby World Trophy where the Under-20 side finished eighth in their just ended tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia, last Sunday.
It was very unfortunate that Zimbabwe finished bottom in a tournament they were expecting to finish among the top four teams so that they will get an automatic qualification for next year’s edition.
But things did not go as planned and Zimbabwe finished without a win due to a lot of factors that go back to the preparation of the team, the conditioning and funding.
There has been a huge outcry in the rugby circles on why the Young Sables put up a poor showing at the tournament as many believed the side could have finished better than the seventh place they got last year in Moscow.
But it is not the 80 minutes that the players are on the pitch, with their coaches barking instructions that only count, but the preparation and support the side gets back home means a lot.
In their build up to the JWRT, Zimbabwe only played an Under-23 Select side at the Cottco rugby festival and that was the only time they got physical.
Then they were also missing some of their players who were still abroad due to academic commitments and these include England-based captain Marco Mama.
The standard of play in Georgia was definitely higher than last year’s but Zimbabwe came short when it came to forward play where they had the smallest pack in the tournament.
No doubt, Zimbabwe had one of the best backlines at the tournament with two of their players, wingers Kuda Chiwanza and Justin Coles, having been named among those who scored the best five tries of the tournament.
But due to the small pack, Zimbabwe could not get the ball to the backline and this is where they were dominated – an area that we need to work on due to the small frame of the locals.
Medical professionals argue that if Zimbabweans are fed right at the time they are growing, there is a potential for the players to grow better.
A look at the teams that were at the tournament will indicate that Young Sables were not well prepared for the tournament compared to their opponents.
Uruguay, for example, had their players together for six months and they would play regular games against the senior and league teams in their country.
They also camped in South Africa where they played against the provincial sides.
Japan went on a tour of Scotland where they played a number of games against the Scotland A side and, like Uruguay, they were together since they qualified.
The United States went on a tour of England where they also played the England Under-20 side that is set to take part at the more prestigious Junior World Cup soon.
Samoa – who won this year’s tournament and earned themselves promotion to the JWC – where in South Africa where they played a number of provincial sides prior to their JWRT appearance. The difference between these sides and Zimbabwe is further extended by the current economic environment in Zimbabwe, coupled with the poor level of the game at the senior level.
Most of the players that come from the schools system in Zimbabwe prefer to go to universities abroad where they are exposed to higher standards of the game and also for educational reasons.
Some actually go abroad with the intention of playing for their adopted national teams.
This places a huge burden on the Zimbabwe Rugby Union as they are not able to call the players in for long, since some will be having educational commitments. Lack of funds also force the players to report for camp towards the departure date.
Hosts Georgia have built two high performance centres and are are putting finishing touches to their players’ hotel that can accommodate up to 106 guests.
It’s very difficult for any side or coach in Zimbabwe to beat the well-prepared sides as the Zimbabwe Rugby Union has not been able to expose the local teams to higher standard games.
If Zimbabwe were able to play a number of regular games against the South Africa provinces there could have been a difference.

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