French rugby coach for city clinics

FRENCH rugby coach, Jean-Marc Bederede is set to host coaching clinics in the city this week at the invitation of Christian Brothers College.

Bederede was the defence coach of France’s national team that recently took part in the 2019 Rugby World Cup that was held in Japan.

He is set to focus on pupils and coaches at the school while also having a session with up and coming rugby players as well as coaches from the western suburbs.

CBC director of rugby, Brighton Chivandire said the period will see Bederede being based at the school for this coming week.

Chivandire said he felt Bederede’s wealth of experience will prove beneficial upcoming players.

“I am close to Bederede so I decided to invite him and he agreed and luckily we managed to secure sponsors from this region (Matabeleland) who came on board and assisted us bring him here.

“As a college we want to keep on improving quality players and we believe this interaction with Bederede with be fruitful and beneficial to both coaches and players.

“Besides having a wealth of experience in the sport, being part of coaches in charge of the French national team at the World Cup shows he has a lot we can learn from him,” he said.

Bederede, who was expected in the city late yesterday, kicks off his itinerary today with a coaching session at CBC grounds with

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the 30 up aspiring players from the western areas along with five of their coaches.

Chivandire, a former Zimbabwe Under-20 head coach, said they felt it was critical to also nurture talent from the western areas.

He said the rest of the week, Bederede will be taking CBC coaches and players on several sessions. “We have a coaching complement of 15 coaches and we are hoping to pick up new ways of doing things, maybe learning new approaches to the game. We are also going to see students who will be joining us next year having a chance to be schooled by Bederede,” said Chivandire, who is also a former Zimbabwe Sables coach.

Bederede has vast experience in dealing with the juniors having been in charge of the French Under-18 team for several years.