By HUMPHREY LOMBE –
SIMBA will today be aiming to add another trophy to their collection as they host the First Quantum Minerals (FQM) 10th Ndola Schools rugby tournament.
Followers of this junior tournament will be eager to see whether Simba, who are already the holders of the 15’s cup won after a 7-0 triumph over their town rivals Chifubu High School, can make it a double just as they did in 2012 when they scooped both trophies to register their first silverware.
Eleven schools, though, have entered the competition and prominent among them is Chengelo of Mkushi, winner in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and defending champions Mpelembe of Kitwe, who also won the title in 2007 and 2010.
Another strong contender is last year’s losing finalist Chifubu, a team that made history becoming the first government sponsored school to win the 2011 edition.
It also interesting to note that a team each from Solwezi, Masaiti and Mpongwe Districts will participate and these are Trident College, Masaiti Boarding School and Mpongwe High School with Chiwala, Masala and Kansenshi High School completing the entries.
However, Kansenshi has just won itself a reprieve after receiving a suspension for indiscipline.
During last year’s event, Kansenshi played one game and lost and refused taking any further part in the subsequent matches alleging biased match handling by the referee. As a consequence of the disciplinary action, Kansenshi missed the 15’s event played last March.
Tournament coordinator Philip Dongo, who is also Simba School Sports Master, said the decision to allow Kansenshi back was arrived at after receiving an appropriate apology from new Sports Master, Lubasi Sililo.
“The blame lay with the staff who accompanied the children. The Kansenshi authorities have been told that we will not allow them to participate if the two members of staff accompany the children to the Festival,” said Dongo, emphatically.
“Trident College is an FQM Sponsored School built at Kansanshi Mine in Solwezi, it caters for expatriate and Zambian staff. From Kitwe we have invited Hellen Kaunda Girls and Ndeke Girls, this is in the spirit of supporting the girl child initiative,” he added.
Much is expected from Chengelo who since their last win in 2009 have not fared well. In 2011, they were losing finalists after going down 10-15 at the hands of Chifubu.
Team coach, Tom Foster, speaking after their worst performance being eliminated in the preliminary round in 2012 ‘fished out’ an excuse that he was developing a young side, hence the poor performance.
“We have very young players and we have used this tournament as an opportunity to develop, and we saw this as the boys kept developing with each game played. The players are young and mostly grade 10s. That is why we did not do well as in previous appearances.”
The ball is in Chengelo’s court because it’s two years down the line and the boys that were grade 10’s are now 12’s and going by what Foster said then that the boys kept developing with each game, they are expected now to have matured and transformed into a formidable side able to challenge for the title.
