19 Mar 2013

The Botswana Rugby Union (BRU), in their continued effort to develop the sport from grassroots, hosted a senior schools tournament in Francistown over the weekend.

In an interview, BRU development officer, Alecs Basitang, indicated that they had been struggling to select players for the national team in the past years.

Basitang also said they relied on established clubs to provide players for national tournaments, particularly for the junior categories (under 18 and 19s).

That, he said was not appropriate because the age group still played at the senior schools and at the same time girls’ teams played tag rugby, which was different from the main contact rugby, played internationally for both men and women.

As a result, he said they decided to have a tournament and a running league, which they would use to develop contact rugby in the junior category.

Basitang added that they were also aiming at closing the gap between senior and tertiary schools so that contact rugby could be a continuous system from the schools to clubs.

He also said their intention was to upgrade the seven-a-side system played by girls to the 15-a-side system played internationally.

Further, he said they used the tournament to select players for the end of year camp where young athletes would be developed and equipped with competitive skills useful at both the club and national team levels.

Nonetheless, he said they were impressed by progress the girls’ teams made in adopting the contact system having showed that they were enjoying it better than they had anticipated. ENDS