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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe rugby sevens side are looking to cause some upsets when they kick off their campaign at the World Rugby Challenger Series 2023 in South Africa against old foes Tonga this morning.
The third edition of the tournament is taking place at the Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape. The first leg of this event will run for the next three days, up to Saturday, and the final leg has been set for April 28-30.
And, the Cheetahs will get their fixtures in Group A underway against Tonga at 11:22am before engaging last year’s semi-finalists Germany at 14:46pm.
They will wind up their group games tomorrow with a match against Belgium in the morning. The Cheetahs coach Graham Kaulback told The Herald from their base in cape Town that he is looking forward to a massive improvement from his team, which finished identical eighth in the last two events held in Uruguay and Chile.
“We are really looking forward to the first tournament this weekend. We obviously play Tonga, Germany and Belgium in the group games.
“These are three really good teams. There are no easy games in this competition, with everyone progressing from their respective sevens programmes in their continents. So each game will be tough but we are looking forward to the challenge.
“We are confident in the preparations that we have made, the team that we have here and the experience that the guys have gained over the last year in the Cheetahs’ environment.
“It’s really important for the Cheetahs to do well in any competition that we play and we strive to do well so we are really going to put our best foot forward, go for it with everything we have and we are really going for gold,” said Kaulback.
The Cheetahs had at least three days to acclimatise with the conditions after they travelled to South Africa last Sunday. The team is camped at the four-star Southern Sun Waterfront Hotel in Cape Town.
But Tonga, who they played twice last year and lost, present a difficult hurdle for the opening match. Germany, as well, are not an easy opponent as they finished in the last four in the 2022 competition and were runners up in the Rugby Europe Sevens Series 2022.
Despite the profile of their opponents, Kaulback has maintained a positive stance about his Cheetahs side.
The Cheetahs have managed to keep the bulk of the team that played at the previous edition of the tournament in Chile last year.
The 13-member squad is captained by Godfrey Magaramombe, who along with players like Vuyani Dhlomo, Munopa Muneta, Munesu Muneta, Tapiwa Mulenga, Tadius Dzandiwandira, Ryan Musumhi, and Nigel Tinarwo, is also returning to the stage.
“I am excited about this Cheetahs team. We have got height, we have got speed, we have skill, we are growing in experience as a team, having had the majority of this group for the last year.
“So I am really excited about our prospects. Like I said, it’s not easy going on the Challenger Series, with the other teams fully professional and growing their sevens programmes all the time.
“So it’s going to be a tough competition but that’s exactly what we want to see, because we want to see exactly where we are, how we are progressing and hopefully to see where we end up, which is obviously on top,” said Kaulback.
“Like I said before, the tournament experience that the players have gained from playing at the Challenger Series last year; most of them were at the Dubai Invitational Sevens in December and we are now moving on to the Challenger Series.
“The other teams are equally strong and sevens is a funny game. So we hope the bounce of the ball goes our way, we stick to our processes and hopefully we come out on the right side of the scoreboard.
“We are really satisfied as a team. We have established the Cheetahs Academy in Harare which is training together all year round. Most of the players, 90 percent of them, selected for the Cheetahs, have come through the Cheetahs Academy.
“So we train regularly, week in and week out, building layers of understanding and developing in the gym, on the field, developing our minds, learning and spending time together. So our preparations, I think, are good.”
The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series replicates the Olympic Games format, which sees the 12 men and women’s teams drawn into three pools of four.
Zimbabwe are in Pool A along with Germany, Tonga and Belgium while Pool A has Chile, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Italy.
African champions Uganda, South Korea, Brazil and Jamaica make up Group C.
The top two from each pool, as well as the two best third-placed finishers will qualify for the knock-out stages. The quarter finals and semi-final matches will lead to the bronze and gold medal matches.
The winner of the men’s Challenger Series, will enter a four-team playoff at the HSBC London Sevens in May 2023 together with the teams placed 12th-14th after ten rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The winner of the playoff will achieve core Sevens World Series 2024 status. The women’s edition is also running concurrently.
Cheetahs squad: Tapiwa Malenga, Emmanuel Zangari, Vuyani Dhlomo, Ryan Musumhi, Godfrey Magaramombe (Captain), Kudakwashe Nyamakura, Martin Mangongo, Munopa Muneta, Carlos Matematema, Tadius Dzandiwandira, Nigel Tinarwo, Munesu Muneta, Takudzwa Kumadiro.
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