Roy Matiki and Oliver Mutafera
BANKING institutions BancABC and Stanbic have become the latest corporates to establish partnerships with the growing sport of rugby.

BancABC successfully sponsored the annual Springvale Rugby Festival held at Peterhouse School outside Marondera recently where 18 primary and secondary schools from across the country showcased their skills.    Stanbic also gave Zimbabwe schools rugby a boost in the form of refreshments, T-shirts, balls, referees' allowances and an ambulance.

BancABC are coming on board for the first time in the event that has run for six years and were impressed with the level of competition displayed by all teams especially the primary school teams. A total of 32 teams that incorporated 16 junior teams and 16 senior sides took part at the invitation of the host school Peterhouse.
Each team played four matches as teams were grouped into two pools and it was run on a festival basis where at the end of the tournament there was no winner.

In the junior category, Ruzawi Primary, St Johns, SVH, Heritage, Eaglesvale and Hellenic dominated the proceedings, showing some flair, slick passes and fluidity in attack and the national junior teams coaches would have been enthralled by their awesome performance.

The senior level section saw Ruzawi, Hellenic, St Johns, Heritage and Lilfordia in their own class signaling that the future of schools rugby is bright.
Ruzawi’ junior team managed to win all their four games they played, beating Petra 39-20, walloping Whitestone from Bulawayo 43-7, dismissing Barwick 32-10 while clobbering LCPS 32-12.

Harare school Eaglesvale beat Hillcrest 17-5 in their opening match, edged Hartman House 24-7, white-washed Bryden 15-0 but lost to St Johns 5-0.
The senior category saw Ruzawi winning all their matches beating Petra 15-7, Whitestone 22-5, LCPS 15-5 and Barwick 10-5 in thrilling ties.
St Johns edged whipping boys Whitestone 12-6, beat Eaglesvale 12-0, dismissed Barwick 12-0 and drew 0-0 with SVH.

Relatively unknown school Lilfordia, had a good outing at the tournament, beating renowned Hartman House 15-12.
Ruzawi, who dominated both the senior and junior competitions, were awarded the BancABC Most Attractive Play award.
With Stanbic’s benevolence two school leagues have been formed in Harare and Bulawayo, with each city represented by six sigh schools.

According to Old Hararians women’s assistant coach, Lovemore Kuzorera, one of the co-ordinators, the deal is expected to culminate in a national youth women’s team.

"Stanbic has come on board in order to raise structures and a team for the Zimbabwe Under-18 women's national rugby team," said Kuzorera on the sidelines of a Stanbic league match between Eaglesvale and Tafara High One at Allan Wilson grounds last week.Girls High, Rosevelt, Queen Elizabeth and Manyame High are also participating.
Kuzorera went on to say 40 players would be called up for camp and start training intensively during the August school holiday.