There is a fairly good chance that Zimbabwe could host the Barthes Trophy again sooner rather than later.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union are reportedly working on a possible bid for the 2025 edition, much to the delight of Zimbabwe Under-20 rugby coach Shaun De Souza.
The Junior Sables gaffer would love to get the opportunity to atone for the home loss to Kenya in the final earlier this year and win the coveted Barthes Trophy on home soil. It is against this background that De Souza and his charges are taking the upcoming scrimmage matches against the Zimbabwe A side very seriously.
The games will also officially mark the start of the Junior Sables preparations for their 2025 campaign.
"Excited to be back . . . it was some much-needed time off, but we are back now," said De Souza. "We launched our "Grassroots to Greatness" programme in September, and having these games as a benchmark is great for us.
"It will allow us to see the lads that didn't play or make the final squad for the Barthes Trophy earlier this year show us what they can do.
"It is a win-win as we get the ball rolling for our preparations for next year's Barthes Trophy while Piet (Benade) gives his charges some much-needed game time and expands his player base," he said.
The two teams, Zimbabwe A and the Junior Sables, are scheduled to meet in two back-to-back ties with the first on Saturday at Harare Sports while the second match is set for the same venue on October 26.
The two matches will serve multiple purposes with Sables coach Benade using them as preparations for the senior team's upcoming tour for matches against the United Arab Emirates and South Korea next month. Zimbabwe have an important assignment at next year's Africa Cup, a tournament they go into as defending champions but which is being used as a 2027 World Cup qualifier.
This has seen Benade looking to expand his player base. For the Junior Sables and De Souza, it is all about the Barthes Trophy.
As testimony to the Zimbabwe Under-20 coach's declaration that he intends to take the matches seriously, De Souza was on hand during the Zimbabwe A side's 46-30 win over a Manicaland Province select side taking note of how the senior side has been going about their business.
"Yeah, I did have a chance to watch the Zim A play Manicaland last weekend, but that visit was not meant to be public.
In terms of takeaways; it is difficult to specifically state as Benade is trying to give as many players as much game time as possible and expand his player base.
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"This alone makes it difficult to gauge or judge the team, but I am very happy and proud of the work he has done so far.
"It is a good thing to see the Sables playing games and winning again, it makes our work at Under-20 level more worthwhile and gives the younger players something to aim and be proud of," he said.
Still, the Barthes Trophy remains the end game and work starts now, for De Souza and his charges. "These two matches will kick off our programme.
"We started our off-season gym programme in September and hope to effective our off-season plan during this last quarter of the year.
"The "Grassroots to Greatness" pathway will be used to identify talent from all across the country after which we will then put them under a High-performance set-up and start camps.
"We will hold open trials later in the year after which we hope to identify and select a few more players from the Under-20 league in January before announcing the team.
"The Nedbank Rugby Challenge (next year) should be the last stop before the Barthes Trophy," he said.
