‘RUGBY FEST TO BENEFIT ZIM’
MINISTER of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane says Zimbabwe stands to benefit immensely from the rugby feast set for this afternoon at the National Sports Stadium in the Old Mutual Super Rugby tournament featuring four top franchises from South Africa.
The giant stadium will host a double header of high quality rugby as South Africa conference champions Emirates Lions clash with Blue Bulls in a lunch-time kick off while Free State Cheetahs and DHL Stormers are expected to bring the curtain down in the main match at 3PM.
Vice President Phelekezela Mhpoko will be the guest of honour at the rugby jamboree.
Hlongwane yesterday hosted representatives from the visiting teams at his office where the tourists expressed their readiness to help Zimbabwe rugby rise to its feet.
Hlongwane was also excited that more teams are coming to Zimbabwe for their pre-season following the successful initiative by Bulls and Cheetahs who featured in an exciting duel at the giant venue last year before proceeding to Victoria Falls for bonding and team building.
“We are very happy that this time around four top teams from the topflight of South Africa rugby are visiting. As Zimbabwe Government we support the efforts by Kyros Sports as well as Zimbabwe Rugby of making sure that we expose our local rugby fans to topflight rugby in terms of quality.
“We see this as an opportunity of building durable synergies between Zimbabwean rugby and South Africa rugby.
“I was discussing with Zimbabwe Rugby Union before you came that they would need to take full advantage of the visit by the South African teams to construct real meaningful partnership that will go a long way in assisting the development of rugby in Zimbabwe,” said Hlongwane.
Bulls were the first to arrive in the country on Wednesday and yesterday they conducted coaching clinics at Heritage School in Harare.
The excitement reached fever pitch when over 100 players and technical personnel from the Stormers, Cheetahs and Lions delegations descended at the Harare International Airport.
Afterwards the officials, who included the Western Province Rugby Football Union president Theo Wakefield, Lions chief executive officer Barend van Graan, Cheetahs director of Rugby Rory Duncan and Lions High Performance manager Bart Schoeman paid a courtesy call on the Minister.
Tough competition is expected in the first match when Conference champions Lions clash with their Gauteng neighbours Bulls.
Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has travelled with a smaller squad of 28 players after he decided to give his frontline players a break.
The squad comprise mostly junior and Under-21 players. Some players who have made their mark at Currie Cup level in locks Bobby de Wee and JP du Preez, wing Koch Marx, prop Pieter Scholtz, flank Victor Sekekete, Kings prop signing Sthi Sithole, centre Gerdus van der Walt, the brother of Lions flyhalf Jaco van der Walt, flyhalf Ashlon Davids and talented loose forward Jano Venter were named.
Bulls also have a squad with many youngsters looking to make an impact ahead of the new season.
Their coach Nollis Marais said he was going to use the opportunity to test depth and see just which players were up to playing Vodacom Super Rugby this year.
“For us it is to see how our depth is and who can play Super Rugby. I know the Lions will also be taking a lot of second stringers or guys on the fringe.
“It is to make sure where we stand with a lot of players — a guy like (SA under-20 midfielder) JT Jackson for instance, I want to give him 40 minutes and see if Burger (Odendaal) gets injured, if he can fit into that role. A guy like Manie Libbok at 15 as well, to see if he can compete with a guy like Jesse (Kriel) and Warrick (Gelant),” said Marais.
DHL Stormers are keen to have a closer look at their players in the second match against Cheetahs after their coach Robbie Fleck travelled with a squad of 35 players.
“We have changed the way we have approached our pre-season preparations, so I am looking forward to seeing the results of that out on the pitch in Harare.
“There is a lot of talent in this squad, so it is about translating that into some good rugby which will give us a good chance to reflect and see where we are at,” he said.
Currie Cup champions Toyota Cheetahs are not likely to be easy opponents, which is exactly what the DHL Stormers management are looking for as they build up to the start of the 2017 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.
The Cheetahs have a squad of 31 players to be captained by lock Reniel Hugo in the absence of regular skipper Francois Venter, who will miss the start of this year’s campaign due to an ankle injury.
The Cheetahs have returned with beautiful memories