tawandamusarurwa
Deputy Sports Editor
DEPENDING on which side of the aisle one sits on, South Africa and Kenya’s miserable runs during the just-ended HSBC Sevens Circuit are either good or terrible news.
For the respective nations, it was a total disaster as South Africa’s poor run at the Toulouse Sevens in France saw the Blitzboks finish fifth, just outside the four automatic qualifying spots for next year’s Paris Olympics.
Kenya were relegated and will now have to go through the newly introduced 2024 Challenger Series for them to force their way back into the reckoning.
What this also means is that both Kenya and South Africa were then added into the pot for this weekend’s Africa Cup.
For the Africa Cup hosts — in this case Zimbabwe — this is good news as Kenya and, in particular, South Africa, are star attractions and will certainly guarantee full houses wherever they play on the continent.
This year’s Africa Cup Sevens, slated for September 16-17, will double as the continent’s qualifiers for the Olympics, hence the addition of the two wounded giants.
For South Africa, this will now be the first time the Blitzboks have to qualify via the Africa Cup route after years of automatic qualification from the time rugby sevens was introduced at the Olympics in 2016.
Kenya, on the other hand, will be competing in their first event after their relegation, and will have to do a lot of soul-searching afterwards following a year they would soon rather forget. However, this is not a two-team tournament as Uganda, Zambia, Madagascar, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Algeria, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe complete the participating teams.
Uganda go in as the defending African champions, having beaten the Cheetahs in last year’s final. In fact, Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe seem to have made the tournament their own as the last couple of editions have been shared among the trio.
With only the winner guaranteed an automatic spot, it looks like yet another three-way battle for the second and third spots that are expected to go to the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament. But that, at the moment, is the furthest thing on Zimbabwe Cheetahs coach Graham Kaulback’s mind.
“If you are going to win it, then you are going to have to win every game that comes your way,” said Kaullback, on his strategy going into Africa Cup.
“However, before you get to do that, you have to win all your group games, and that is what we are concentrating on right now.
“We are not looking at other groups or who is coming, just focusing on making it out of our group first. We will try to do our best against those teams, and then take it from there,” he said.
The hosts are in Pool C, alongside the defending champions Uganda, Burkina Faso and Algeria. It is one of the lighter groups as favourites South Africa are in Pool A and are expected to breeze through unscathed against Madagascar, Tunisia, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Pool B will feature Kenya, Zambia, Namibia and Nigeria, and looks certain to be the group to watch. Kaulback has refused to sit on his laurels and called in some reinforcements in a bid to strengthen his squad.
Among those who have since come in and travelled with the squad to South Africa for a high-performance camp in Pretoria are the foreign-based contingent of Rian O’ Neil, Shingi Katsvere and Hilton Mudariki.
The gaffer also roped in some Junior Sables graduates — Edward Sigauke, Simbarashe Kanyangarara and Shadrek Mandaza.
The additions got their first taste of Cheetahs action during last weekend’s Zambezi Challenge, when the national squad was divided into two teams, Cheetahs Green and White, for the tournament.
“The preparations have been great; we had some foreign-based players trooping into camp, and immediately gave them a run at the Zambezi Challenge Cup,” said Kaulback.
“This is awesome preparation (Zambezi Challenge) for the guys, especially when you factor in the Pretoria camp, which will be the last before the Africa Cup.
“We have a string of warm-up games in South Africa, which we hope to use to finetune the guys,” he said.
Cheetahs had since played two matches, beating French side Bordeaux 21-17 and a Pretoria All-Star team 31-0.
“We are building a lot of depth as a unit, as we have built up the local-based players over the last two years and now have the addition of the foreign guys. Our run at the Zambezi Challenge Cup was very good, with both the Cheetahs outfits making the final.
“It is just the beginning of the sevens’ season and everyone is still finding their stride, and we expect to get better and improve more and more in the lead-up to the Africa Cup,” he said.
Online Reporter