Harare — The Zimbabwe Under-19 rugby side got their campaign for glory on a positive note when they thrashed hosts Cote d'Ivoire 41-0 in their opening game of the Junior Africa Cup on Monday.

The Young Sables who are also the defending champions are among the favourites to win the tournament. They are under the guidance of former Sables coach Brighton Chivandire. Zimbabwe travelled to the West African country with six experienced players who took part at last year's Africa Cup and the JWRT.

The six are Luke Rutter, Marco Mama, Tatenda Karuru, Charles Jiji, Takudzwa Jaravaza and Takudzwa Mandiwanza. Assistant coach Godwin "Jaws" Murambiwa, Chivandire's trusted lieutenant was, however, unable to travel with the youth side.

The Young Sables won last year's edition of the games in Kenya when they defeated rivals Namibia in the final at the Kenya Rugby Grounds. Chivandire's charges appear determined to win the Junior Africa Cup that also serves as the qualifiers for the Junior World Rugby Trophy tournament. The winner of the regional tournament will secure the ticket to represent Africa at the world stage.

Zimbabwe were one of two African representatives at the JWRT tournament in Moscow, Russia in May where they finished seventh. But unlike Zimbabwe and the rest of the continent, South Africa do not need to play in the qualifiers for a place at the more prestigious Junior World Cup in Argentina.

Meanwhile, the National Rugby League resumes this weekend with the games marking the end of the first half of the season. Unlike in the last few weeks where games were played at the same venue, most of the games this weekend will be decentralised with Harare hosting just one game.

District Dragons and Old Hararians will be traveling to Bulawayo where they take on Old Miltonians and Busters at Hartsfield. Harare Sports will make an across town trip to Manyame for clash against Airforce of Zimbabwe.

Former Sables and Cheetahs flyhalf Arnold Takawira has died. Takawira died in South Africa on Sunday night. He had been involved in a car accident in that country a few weeks ago.

The former Busters flyhalf had appeared to be recovering from the injuries he sustained in the accident and had been discharged from hospital. Takawira's brother-in-law Isaac Magaya confirmed Arnold's death but said the family was expecting to have the full details pertaining to the funereal arrangements by yesterday.

"Yes, we received with great shock news that Mr Takawira passed away in South Africa but at the moment we do not have a clear picture of how the funeral programme will proceed but we should have the have the full details soon," said Magaya.

Takawira was involved in a car accident a few weeks ago in South Africa and was detained in hospital for about two weeks before he was discharged last week. It was at the time that he was recovering at his South African residence that he passed away

Former Sables coach Murambiwa expressed shock after learning of the sad passing away of his former player. Murambiwa coached Takawira nine years ago in the national team. "At the moment I am in shock and I can not believe that we have lost a (former) great player who had rugby at his heart even after he retired from active playing.

"It's so sad to hear that we have lost someone like him. "It's very sad that his life was tragically taken as he was involved in a car accident. "He was one of the players we had who was a really intelligent player and it was good to see him play with his son. "At one time I saw him in Bulawayo when he was playing flyhalf while his son was at scrumhalf in the same team and really he was an experienced player.

"I coached him at the turn of the millennium and he was a great player who still loved taking part in rugby and his involvement at Busters shows how committed he was to the sport even after his retirement from playing. "He had been doing a lot of work with Busters," said Murambiwa.

After his retirement Takawira also took to coaching and was involved in the game as Busters coach before he moved into administration where he was the Matabeleland Rugby Football Board member for development Cheetahs manager Bruce Hobson was also in shock describing Takawira as a quiet, and very good flyhalf.

"He was a quiet player very colourful character who was full of life both on and off the field. "By the time I knew him he was quite a senior player and was more involved in the XV's (Sables) but I went with him on quite a number of tours.

"It's very sad and shocking to learn of his passing away because he was a very good flyhalf with a lot of flair," said the former Zimbabwe Rugby Union president.