7s rugby still a ZRU priority

Tinashe Kusema
Deputy Sports Editor

ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) chief executive officer Sifiso Made maintains that the Sevens version of the game remains one of their top priorities despite the Cheetahs failure to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Although much of the spotlight has been falling on the senior XVs side — the Sables — who are chasing a dream return to the World Cup, Made said the union has not forsaken the other variants of the game.

The Sables have been pulling all the stops to ensure they make the cut for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

On their part, the Cheetahs were last in action during coach Daniel Hondo’s short-lived stint with the team in Monaco for the Olympics’ Sevens Repechage tournament.

Their last proper run of games came shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with the Cheetahs, then under Gilbert Nyamutsamba, taking part in the World Rugby Sevens Challengers’ Series.

Since then, games have been few and far between, while both Hondo and Nyamutsamba have since moved on.

The Cheetahs are without a substantive coach since Hondo’s resignation.

Hondo is a member of Brendan Dawson’s Sables’ technical bench, while Nyamutsamba is now director of rugby for Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB).

Made said despite lack of game time, the Sevens were still high on their priority list.

“Graham Kaulback is the Cheetahs’ interim coach.

“In fact, he has been tasked with identifying his players and formulating high-performance training for his charges.

“He has the full backing of the technical committee and the executive, with plans afoot to establish a local Sevens tournament as and when we get the green light to resume operations.

“These provincial tournaments will be used to identify more players that will be fed onto those he will have already identified,” said Made. Unfortunately, the Cheetahs have since been dealt a double blow after the postponement of both the Africa Sevens Cup and the Hong Kong Sevens’ tournament.

ZRU had already received approval from Government to resume training and travel for the Hong Kong leg of the HSBC World Seven Series.

However, the tournament, originally scheduled for November, has once again been called off for a second year due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The decisions have been taken with the health and well-being of the rugby community and the wider public as top priority. “It also came after extensive consultation with the host organisations, participating unions and relevant government bodies,” World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin was quoted saying.

The tournament has been tentatively set for April 1 to April 3, 2022.

The new development has left ZRU in a pickle.

It will now be keeping an eye on the Cape Town leg of the series, all the while hoping to get an invitation.

“The problem with Sevens rugby is that we cannot look for singular teams, tours and games – it has to be tournaments.

“As things stand, we will be keeping tabs on the Cape Town Sevens tournament.

“We are hoping to get an invite to the Cape Town series, and any other tournament that will come up.

“We have entrusted the coach to get his players ready with specialised programmes so that we will be ready as and when the occasion arises.

“It’s a similar situation with the women’s team in which the coach will be resuming high-performance training for his charges.

“This is in preparation for the World Rugby Sevens World Cup pre-qualifiers.

“The actual dates and venue of the tournament are not yet out, but we expect that to change soon,” Made said.