adminZIMBABWE national sevens rugby team coach Daniel Hondo says although they were in panic mode following the Cheetahs’ poor showing at the Safari Sevens in Kenya last weekend where they finished fourth he remains optimistic ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifiers.
The Cheetahs bowed out of the Kenyan expedition going down 0-24 to Shujaa, a representative team made up of the bulk of the Kenyan first choice players. They emerged second best in the third place play-off against Western Province losing 29-10 to the South Africans.
Hondo, however, was optimistic as the Cheetahs prepare for Rio 2016 qualifiers set for Johannesburg next month. The coach blamed the losses in Kenya to the physical game by the hosts.
Zimbabwe had to do without the South Africa-based trio Njabulo Ndlovu, Biselele Tshamala and Shayne Makombe who could not make it to Kenya. Scrumhalf Hilton Mudariki picked a hamstring injury and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks which could rule him out of the Olympic qualifiers.
“We finished fourth in Kenya, we played well, I would not want to make excuses, we were missing a couple of players. When we played teams like Shujaa they were physical and we failed to cope so that is something we have to work on,’’ said Hondo.
Former Cheetahs coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba was of the view that it was Zimbabwe’s best ever opportunity to qualify for the Olympics since the players have been together for a long time and that the team was the same as the one that went to the Hong Kong Sevens in March this year.
Nyamutsamba was in charge of the Cheetahs when they booked their place in the final leg of the qualifiers by finishing third in the Africa Cup Sevens held in Harare in November last year.
“This is our best ever chance to qualify for the Olympics, our pool of players have been together for a reasonable amount of time now and if the bulk of team is made up of the guys that played in Hong Kong tournament. We have a very good pool of players and our chances to qualify are high,’’ said Nyamutsamba.
Hondo said the final squad for the qualifiers would be named a week before the trip to Johannesburg.
Due to financial constraints, foreign based players will only go into camp a week prior to departure for South Africa, according to Hondo. With South Africa having already secured a spot in Brazil next year via the HBSC World Sevens Series, Zimbabwe’s threat to Olympic qualification remains Kenya. Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the men’s teams that will fight it out for Olympic qualification.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter