Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Augustine Hwata
11 April 2008
Harare — Select sides from Botswana and Zambia have been invited to add a foreign flavour to this year's edition of the Cottco Schools Rugby Festival at Prince Edward High.
The traditional schoolboys' jamboree will run from April 21 to 26 with 99 teams set to take part. This year marks the 10th anniversary that Cottco has been the major sponsors of the rugby festival, now one of the biggest schoolboys' rugby events in Africa.
Last year, a Zambian select side graced the occasion. Cottco Schools Rugby Festival director Sebastian Garikayi said preparations for the event were well on course despite a change in the dates. Traditionally, the rugby festival is held during the last week of each first term holiday and the changes of the school calendar due to the elections held on March 29 this year affected the initial dates.
"The preparations for the festival are going on smoothly.
"Over the years we have witnessed some great rugby with some schools like Mutoko and Murewa moving to play on the big days.
"Both schools have improved and fit well into the aim of the festival, which is to develop rugby in rural and high-density schools.
"The festival is not about winning games but improving play and Mutoko and Murewa managed to win against a game each against traditional rugby playing schools and when they lost, the margin was not very wide," said Garikayi.
The rugby playing schools in Zimbabwe will send 67 senior teams and 32 Under-16 sides involving over 230 players.
A total of 130 matches, spread over the Jubilee Field, the Avenues and the Chapel, will be played.
It is acknowledged that in terms of the number of matches played and number of participants, the Cottco Schools Rugby Festival is the biggest in the southern hemisphere, far bigger than the Craven Week in South Africa.
Other than the Zambians and Botswana bringing the foreign flavour, the organisers are expecting coaches from Tanzania, Namibia and Tunisia to help with the officiating.
The referees have also taken the event to sharpen their abilities.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Referees' Union is also using the schoolboys' games to assess up-and-coming referees as well as recruiting new members.
During the festival, the International Rugby Board will run two coaching clinics on April 21 and 23.
The first clinic is targeted at coaches -- mostly teachers -- and established ones seeking a higher IRB level.
The second course is targeted at players and new coaches.
As part of the 10th anniversary of the event, the Zimbabwe Rugby Union will select two developmental sides that will be used for setting up the ZRU academy. ZRU development manager Modreck Makotose said the development sides would be picked from players from non-traditional rugby playing schools. 'The players will be selected from games on Monday and Wednesday and will be rested for the Friday because they will play on the Saturday.
"The two development sides are going to play Zambia and Botswana," he said. ZRU president Bruce Hobson is already looking forward to a good tournament. "I am sure this year's tournament will be as good as in the previous year and that being the case I look forward to some classic schoolboy rugby.
"The Cottco rugby festival has over the years developed into a showcase of Zimbabwe schoolboy rugby and its huge importance can never be under-emphasised," says Hobson.
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