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Mehluli Sibanda in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
FIRST there was joy when they scored first then there was dejection at the end for the Zimbabwe Cheetahs who suffered a 31-7 loss to Canada in a Rugby World Cup Sevens South Africa 2022 pre-round of 16 showdown at the Cape Town Stadium yesterday.
Defeat for the Kudzai Mashawi-captained Cheetahs means their interest in the main competition is over since they are now in the bowl section where they face off against Hong Kong in an early kick-off this morning.
Being booted out of the main competition means Zimbabwe are now in the same league with Hong Kong, Uganda, Portugal, Jamaica, Tonga, Korea and Germany who are now competing for the bowl. The eight teams are now playing for position 17-24 in the men’s section.
Zimbabwe, making their sixth appearance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens, came into the tournament with high expectations and started off the match brightly when Godfrey Magaramombe put them in the lead with a try from a quick tap after the Cheetahs were awarded a penalty five metres out. Ryan Musumhi booted in the conversion for Zimbabwe to lead 7-0.
The Cheetahs managed to keep Canada in their own half for the better part of the first half but when the Canadians did make a foray into the Zimbabwean 50m line, they crossed the line twice, with both tries converted to give the North Americans a 14-7 half-time lead.
Canada, who also gave a run to former Zimbabwe Under-18 captain Matthew Owuru, showed the huge gulf between them and the Cheetahs when they stretched their advantage in the second half.
In the second half, Canada extended their lead to 21-7 with a converted try. Canade made it try number four, the conversion missed and it took their lead to 26-7. The Canadians were not done yet, with a fifth try, an unsuccessful conversion making it 31-7 and that is how is how it ended as they booked their spot in the tournament round of 16.
Cheetahs captain Mashawi felt that the match against Canada was there for the taking and believes that they lost it along the way by their failure to defend well.
“This was there for the taking, when it’s a stage like this you need to bring your ‘A’ game. Definitely from the start we had a good start but I guess we just fell off, that’s the difference between seasoned teams and when you come to a tournament like this, you need to make sure that you are on your ‘A’ game all the time,” remarked Mashawi.
“The game was open, 50-50, we just needed to make sure that we stay disciplined in our systems, do our basics and make sure that we are there. We are in the bowl, we just have to take each game now as it goes and keep on making those ticks on our boxes,” added the Cheetahs skipper.
On not being able to progress to the round of 16, Mashawi pointed out that while that is disappointing, the team is still steadfast in wanting to do their country proud in the remaining matches.
“You always want to play against the big dogs, this is what it takes, we need to be up there all the time, if you don’t do that, then that’s where you will be. We obviously taking this tournament as a growth, we got here, we have sheer determination, it’s out of the cup for us but we still have games to play and make sure that we come here and represent our national team well,” he said.
Zimbabwe will be hoping to win against Hong to enhance their chances of finishing in a better position outside the top 16. At the last Rugby World Cup Sevens held in San Francisco, United States, in 2018, Zimbabwe finished 23 out of 24 men’s teams, only better than Jamaica.
Online Reporter