adminMehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
FOR Zimbabwean rugby, the year 2014 proved to be full of disappointments with many instances where the national teams were so near yet so far from achieving their goals. The Zimbabwe Sables and Cheetahs had great prospects of accomplishing big things that could have changed the face of Zimbabwean rugby.
First, it was the Cheetahs who had a huge opportunity of becoming a full member of the HSBC Sevens World Series at the 12-team Hong Kong qualifier played in March. Zimbabwe, then Zimbabwe Rugby Union director of rugby Liam Middleton who had bulldozed his way to coach the team at the expense of Coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba, topped Pool E with a 100 percent record.
Zimbabwe defeated Barbados 49-5, Chile 19-14 and Russia 14-5. However, things went horribly wrong for the Cheetahs after they lost 17-12 to Italy in extra time in the quarter-finals. The defeat saw their hopes of attaining core membership status come to an end.
Japan went on to beat Italy 26-5 in the final to win the competition and become a fulltime member of the sevens circuit for this season.
At the end of the year with Nyamutsamba now back in charge of the team, the Cheetahs finished third at the Africa Rugby Africa Cup Sevens tournament held at Prince Edward High School in Harare which guaranteed them a slot at the World Sevens Series qualifier in Hong Kong in March. Zimbabwe also emerged from the tournament as the highest ranked African nation behind South Africa and Kenya ahead of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics qualifiers this year.
The Cheetahs, however, ended the year on a low note when they returned home without a win from the South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Zimbabwe lost all the six matches they played.
For the Brendan Dawson coached Zimbabwe Sables, the year saw them come so close to qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, to be staged in England later this year.
At the 2014 Africa Cup which served as 2015 Rugby World Cup African qualifier held in Antananarivo, Madagascar between 28 June and 6 July, the Sables had awesome prospects of qualifying for the World Cup.
Zimbabwe, led by centre Daniel Hondo started off brightly with a 57-22 triumph over Madagascar.
In the second match against Namibia, Zimbabwe let a 17-10 halftime lead go to waste as they let the Namibians bounce back to win 24-20.
Zimbabwe thought they had done the job when they beat Kenya 28-10 in their final match but Namibia had other ideas when they hammered Madagascar 89-10 in a match played later on the same day. A decision to kick for three points instead of trying to push for a fourth try which would have sealed a bonus point win for the Sables, will forever haunt Zimbabwean rugby.
Namibia secured top spot because of their superior points difference which saw them automatically qualify for England.
The Sables finished second, proceeded for an inter-confederation play-off against Russia where they lost 23-15 putting to an end our hopes of qualifying for the RWC for the first time since they last appeared in 1991.
Zimbabwe’s national sevens rugby team, coached by Abigail Kawonza participated in the Africa Cup sevens in Machakos, Kenya in April.
At the pool stage of the event, the Precious Marange captained Zimbabwean women defeated Namibia 33-0, lost 0- 21 to Tunisia, before another 10-5 win over Uganda. The Lady Cheetahs met South Africa in the Cup semi-finals and the South Africans triumphed 43-0. Zimbabwe then proceeded to the Plate final where they were beaten 31-0 by Tunisia, finishing fourth overall.
For the second year running, the Nsikelelo Sibanda coached Under-19 side failed to qualify for the World Rugby Junior World Trophy with a third place finish at the Africa Rugby Under-19 Championships in Windhoek, Namibia.
Zimbabwe lost 27-20 to Kenya in their semi-final match but crucially they remained in the elite pool with a 51-21 win over Tunisia in the third place play-off.
While sponsorship has been hard to come by for sports organisations in Zimbabwe, ZRU clinched an annually renewable bankrolling from diversified financial services group Old Mutual. The funding covered development tournaments in the form of the Old Mutual Inter-Community Cup, Craven Week trials as well airfares for the three junior national rugby teams which went to the annual Coca-Cola Craven Weeks in South Africa during the schools second term. The developments saw the three teams being referred to as the Old Mutual Young Sables.
At the Craven Week, The Under-13 national team, coached by Bryan Rademeyer lost their opening encounter 34-12 to Griquas, won 31-27 over Border Country Districts in their second fixture, defeated Griffons 26-22 in the third match and rounded off their tournament played in Durban with a 24-24 stalemate against Namibia.
The Zimbabwe Under-16, under the mentorship of former Sables utility back Douglas Trivella won 15-13 over Griquas, 11-10 against Griquas Country Districts before they went down 34-22 to Namibia in an event held in Pretoria.
Coached by Godwin Murambiwa and captained by Falcon College prop Stephen Bhasera, the Zimbabwe Under-18 proved to be the biggest disappointment in their age group tournament staged in Middelburg. They went down 54-43 to Eastern Province Country Districts, lost 26-20 to Griquas Country Districts and were then beaten 38-25 by Namibia to return home with no win, something that had not happened since Murambiwa became head coach in 2007.
Middleton quit his post at the end of September to take up the job of Canada national sevens rugby team coach less than a year into his post as ZRU director of rugby. His departure was met with so much excitement within the local rugby fraternity since many in the game had put most of the blame on the failures of the Cheetahs and Sables on his perceived meddling.
Club rugby was severely affected by the country’s harsh economy with the National Rugby League abandoned with only nine matches being played. Delta Beverages who had sponsored the NRL using their Lion Lager brand decided not to renew financial support to the league. Attempts by the Noddy Kanyangarara led NRL executive to secure another sponsor failed and the league, run with funds meant for the clubs’ prize money for last season, the nine weeks played were not completed.
One of the two ZRU vice-presidents, Colleen de Jonge was elevated to the Africa Rugby executive committee at the continental body’s annual general meeting held in France last month.
Contracts for coaches of the Sables, Cheetahs, Under-19 and Lady Cheetahs expired at the end of last month with the coaches given up to last Friday to decide if they still want to continue in their jobs. It seems almost certain that Dawson, Nyamutsamba, Lady Cheetahs boss Kawonza will be allowed to continue in their respective roles while Sibanda could be replaced. There is also the new position of women’s fifteens rugby national team coach.
Coaches for the national Under-13, Under-16 and Under-18 had their contracts come to an end with indications that if they are still interested, the three will be asked to be maintained in charge of the junior teams.
While a lot of hard work was put in by the administrators, coaches as well players alike, the past year proved to be a disappointing one for the game of rugby in Zimbabwe and those involved will be looking forward to a much more positive 2015.
Online Reporter