Great North formed to revive fading rugby
Koketso Kgoboge | Wednesday November 1, 2017 14:08
The team was engaged in a gruelling encounter against Zimbabwe’s Matebeleland during the Francistown’s 120 years Jubilee celebrations at the Francistown Sports Complex.
The side is made up of players from different parts in the north including Palapye, Selebi-Phikwe, Orapa, Francistown, Maun and as far as Kasane.
Great North coach, Kagiso Setabo said the team has shown great potential, and will grow to feed the northern sides and the national team. He said the intention is to keep the players active through competitive friendly matches with both regional and local teams.
He said the main aim of the project is to provide a continuity platform for young rugby players from different secondary schools in the north.
“Rugby is slowly vanishing in the north, but the north is home to the best players the country has in this game,” he said.
“There is vast potential in high schools here and there is no platform for continuity, hence we have come up with this initiative to bridge that gap and ensure these players find homes in the league after completing their studies.”
He said the project has already benefited BAC North team that was crowned champions of the presidential Cup in the women’s section and finished third in the men’s competition. “Our intention is to win the next presidential competition in the men’s section, which will automatically earn us a spot in the Super League,” he said.
“We can achieve that through this project and we will do the same in other areas to revive other teams across the north.”
In the weekend contest against Matebeleland, Great North suffered a 40-3 battering. The game started with a potent combat as both teams restricted each other to the midfield.
After a gruesome 10 minutes, the visitors found the break through a Takunda Kutsukunya long pass to Walter Gode who out-sprinted the local defenders to register the first try. The locals responded with a three pointer thanks to a well-taken penalty kick by David Strauss.
Moments later, the slippery Kutsukunya powered through for another touch down at the other end. Prayer Ngulule added another try with a cool finish after outpacing the locals in the 24th minute.
Tichaona Mosariri sold the Great North defenders a dummy in the 31st minute before increasing his side’s tally to 26.
From the dugout, the game carried a similar combat in the midfield, but small mistakes continued to haunt the locals.
The speedy fly half, Ngulule, benefited at the end of a Jimius Masuku long pass to add another try. The hard-tackling Matebeleland defence was unrelenting as they repelled well from deep in their half.
In the dying minutes, substitute Benson Chirupa countered from a scrumhalf mistake and drilled the last nail that took the game to bed at 40-3.
“We lost shape after their first try and they intimidated us. We are a new side and we did not have enough training time together. I believe we are on the right track. We have outstanding individuals in this team,” Setabo said.