...as Armitage Nyondo is picked in All-Africa team
By Sports Reporter
DIGGERS’ star player Armitage Nyondo has been picked in the All-Africa team that will curtain raise next month’s Mandela Cup match between hosts South Africa and Australia at Ellis Park.
Zambia Rugby Football Union (ZRFU) interim secretary Godfrey Ndunda said yesterday in Kitwe that Nyondo was the only Zambian selected by the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) for the historic game.
There are other players from across the continent picked to play the curtain raiser.
Ndunda said the selection of Nyondo to the African squad was an honour to Zambian rugby and would help the player learn something as he would be meeting other experienced players.
He said the ZRFU was happy that Zambian rugby was being appreciated by CAR and has since called on all the players to work hard and maintain discipline which he said was vital for success.
And Ndunda has said three Zambian rugby officials have been appointed to officiate the Madagascar and Uganda game to be played in the capital Antananarivo on July 10.
He said the officials picked to officiate the match had performed well when handling international matches, hence the move by CAR to appoint them.
Ndunda named the officials as Joseph Bwalya the director of Zambia Rugby Referees Society (ZRRS), Paul Bwalya of Mufulira and Chris Mwamba.
“We are very happy as a union that now we are developing rugby in the country for both players and match officials because of good officiating CAR has appointed our officials to handle an important assignment,” he said.
He also said the Copperbelt select under-18 select side would play their Midlands counterparts as curtain raisers on Saturday at the Mosi International Sevens.
He said the purpose of this game was to come up with an under-18 rugby national team which would participate in the CAR development tournament to be held in Botswana in September.
He said 30 players would be selected on Saturday ahead of the tournament which would see four teams namely Botswana, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.
