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referees have threatened to stop taking charge of the games after they were criticised for the way they are handling matches by team officials and players.
Tough, tense encounters have become a fairly rare thing in the league as they only come when Sports Club, Old Hararians, Old Georgians and Warriors play each other.

These are the Big Four in the league.
It’s not a secret that the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, the NRL, and the provinces are failing to find a solution to make the local game as entertaining and exciting as it was in the ‘90’s.
Players that graduate from the traditional rugby playing schools usually leave the country to play in foreign lands where they will also be involved in university and college education.

The few that remain in Zimbabwe do not find glory in playing at the likes of Airforce, Gweru Sport Club, Panthers, Old Miltonians or the lower league teams that include Southern City, Police Defenders, Mabvuku or Mutare Sport Club.
At the end of the day, the top four clubs end up holding all the best talent in the country and some of the players will opt to sit on the bench for the better part of the season than getting game time at one of the smaller clubs.

Two weeks ago, punching bags Airforce, made a mockery of the league when they suffered the biggest defeat in local rugby in recent years after a 0-127 loss at the hands of Old Hararians.

This effectively became the biggest win of the season and one of the biggest victories for the Old Boys.
Airforce are the weakest side in the league but their defeat to the former champions leaves one wondering why they are in the national league in the first place.
Surely a Harare schools Under-18 rugby side that was selected at Gateway during the same weekend would definitely have put up a much better show than Airforce.

This was Airforce’s sixth straight defeat in the league and they are yet to win as they did not play over the weekend.
But the big scores remained.
Gweru Sports Club and Western Panthers suffered humiliating defeats.

Gweru Sports Club suffered a 0-77 thumping at the hands of defending champions Old Georgians.
Panthers were also on the receiving end of an embarrassing 10-108 loss to former champions Harare Sports Club who are leading the table with a 100 percent record.

At the end of week three, Old Hararians flyhalf Tichafara Makwanya had 50 points but after seven rounds of action Airforce have only managed to score 53 points.
Statistics
Worst Defeats: Airforce 0, Old Hararians 127 (Week 6); Harare Sports Club 108, Western Panthers 10 (Week 8); Old Georgians 94, Airforce 3; Old Hararians 86, Panthers 3 (Week 5); Airforce 10, Warriors 81 (Week 1); Old Georgians 77, Gweru 0 (Week 8); Old Georgians 68, Old Miltonians 0 (Week 3); Old Miltonians 3, Old Hararians 67 (Week 1); Panthers 14, Harare Sports Club 65 (Week 6); Gweru Sports Club 7, Harare Sports Club 62; Panthers 6, Old Georgians 52 (Week 4); Old Georgians 52, Gweru Sports Club 13 (Week 6).

Week 8 Results
NRL: Old Georgians 77, Gweru 0; Sports Club 108, Western Panthers 10; Warriors 29, Old Miltonians 8
Metro: Red Lions 46, Mufakose 7; Police 20, Mbare 0 (walk over), Edwardians 103, Southern City 0; Mutare 22, Mabvuku 6.
Schools Top 9: Kyle College 22, St Johns College 25; St Georges College 24, Falcon College 21; Prince Edward 27, Peterhouse College 10; Lomagundi College 19, C.B.C 17.