The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Deputy Sports Editor
ENTERPRISING Zimbabwe Under-20 coach Shaun De Souza might be having a tough time balancing his responsibilities at work and duties with the national rugby youth side, but he has not lost sight of his mission with the Young Sables.
The 44-year-old, who is a general manager at Nations Hardware in Harare, has regrouped his charges, who have been going through their paces at Prince Edward School and most recently Old Hararians.
De Souza is also the Prince Edward Tigers mentor and uses the time to coach the school team.
Given that national duty takes precedence, he is naturally giving priority to the Young Sables’ preparations for the upcoming tour of Canada.
His busy schedule would be enough to make any ordinary man go insane, but he is no ordinary man.
“This is nothing new,” said De Souza.
“We are back in the limelight and that’s good.
“The pressure that comes for me is not the environment that we are in right now but the opportunities that are placed in front of us,” he said.
These include the chance to gauge his charges’ performance in Canada next month.
Zimbabwe has been invited to participate at the Canada International Rugby Series, a tournament organised by World Rugby for the sole purpose of giving next year’s Junior World Rugby Trophy participants the much-needed game time.
In Canada, Zimbabwe will play three games against Chile, Uruguay and hosts Canada in the high-profile four-nation tourney slated for August 9 to August 24.
“There is so much logistics behind the scenes as we try to get these kids the visas, approvals and trying to knock on the right offices so we can get some sponsorship for the trip.
“On the field, I don’t think there are any headaches as we have got an abundance of talent and the only dilemma is trimming the squad which will go to Canada from 36 to 30,” he said.
The team has been in camp for the past month, training three times a week at Prince Edward and Old Hararians Sports Club.
While preparations have gone rather smoothly, there have been a couple of casualties.
A broken leg has ruled out Craig Snyder, while Rukudzo Ndoro has also been forced to withdraw after he had to go under the surgeon’s knife to fix a knee injury.
There has been good news, however, as De Souza welcomed the return of the trio of Tawanda Matipano, Tavonga Ablant and Brendan Marume.
The duo of Matipano and Ablant, who made it into the Goshawks squad for the Currie Cup First Division, had been nursing injuries.
Marume, who even went a step further to travel with the Sables to France, recently returned to full training after getting a few extra days to rest and recuperate.
“The preparations have been good, the camp vibe has been great and everyone has reported for duty now.
“The standards of the sessions are top-notch and you can’t ask for more, and guys are raring and fighting for those starting jerseys.
“The loss of Snyder and Ndoro were big blows, and we wish them well.
“Rugby is a contact sport and these things do happen, and now we just have to keep moving,’’ De Souza added.
He also relishes the boost brought by the returning players.
“Ablant is now 100 percent; he has been training full throttle and I think he has a lot he is going to show us in the next outing.
“Marume joined us a few days ago; he was still out in France, after which we gave him some time off.
“Matipano has also recovered from his knee injury and he is good to go.”
By virtue of being hosts, the 44-year-old expects the game against Canada to be their toughest.
He is also bracing for a bruising match against Uruguay because of their physicality, while he has rated Chile as the dark horses.
“Chile are the unknown entity.
“They just recently qualified for the World Cup at senior level after beating the USA, and this tells you a story that this South American side is not a team to be taken lightly.
“There are obviously doing good things with their union and we looking forward to see how we match up against them.”
Young Sables Squad:
Forwards: Nqobile Manyara, Tomuvonga Msasanure, Farai Madzima, Martin Hakunavanhu, Tadiwa Chinwada, Tawanda Banda, Marlon Guwuriro, Takunda Mudzingwa, Simbarashe Siraha, Tanaka GondoMukandapi, Tamuka Kambani, Tanaka Ndoro, Tendai Chinyama, Andrew Rinomhota, Denzel Maramba, Rua Karimazondo, Muzuva Gutu
Backs: Panashe Zuze, Tanaka Ndabambi, Matthew Hickey, Shadrick Mandaza, Benjamin Pattenden, Takudzwa Musingwini, Alex Nyamunda, Dion Khumalo, Carl Kawodza, Jerome Sagomba, Tavonga Ablant, Liberty Sibanda, Emmanuel Farawu, Tariro Tapfuma, Brendon Mason, Tawanda Matipano, Brendan Marume, Simbarashe Kanyangarara, Tanaka Chinyanga
