THE Zimbabwe schools team for the 2008 Craven Week Rugby Festival to be held in South Africa goes into next weekend.

Team coach Godwin Murambiwa said the team cannot afford a longer camping period as the players need to attend their school lessons.

“We could have wanted a longer training period, but obviously this is not possible as we do not want to disrupt the players’ classes. The team trains for a day on Sunday (today) with proper camping starting on Friday,” said Murambiwa.

Murambiwa added that the team will regroup on July 3rd after breaking camp on June 26th.

“The final preparations will be done from July 3rd until we leave for South Africa on July 6th. I believe this is ample time for us to prepare the team to become a very competitive outfit. This time it is going to be very difficult for us to make an impression as we have a team of inexperienced players. Only Brandon Chapman is the sole survivor from the team that played at last year’s edition of the tournament,” he said.

“Jaws”, as Murambiwa is known in rugby circles, also revealed that the team would only play one friendly match before leaving for South Africa.

“So far no preparatory matches have been organized, but we may play a game against Brighton Chivandire’s Under-19 squad which is also preparing for the Under-19 World Cup qualifiers,” he said.

The Zimbabwe schools team will be hoping a repeat of last year where they won all their three games.

Zimbabwe opens up their game at the tournament against Border on July 8.

Squad:

Forwards: Brendon Chapman (cpt), Tapiwa Rabwi, Marco Mama, Takudzwa Mandiwanza (all Peterhouse), Michael Gwinyai, Tawanda Nguni, Zerubabel Makomva, Takudzwa Mutataguta (all St Georges), Joshua Silcock, Michael Vickery (both St Johns), Mngobi Dhlamini, Enyioma Emwerem (both CBC).

Backs:
Graham Kaulback, Jonathan McWade, Matthew Swales, Melusi Mlalazi (all St Johns), Manyi Simwinga, Conrad Tshuma (both Falcon), Garikayi Magwenzi, Charles Chijiji (both PE), Thomas Nelson (Peterhouse), Tafadzwa Chitokwindo (Kyle).

Management:

Coach - Godwin Murambiwa

Asst coach - Tunga Mashungu

Manager - Ryan Vickery

Head-of-delegation - Reg Querl

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