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THE Zimbabwe national sevens rugby team, the Cheetahs are gearing up for the Rugby Africa Men’s Olympic Qualifiers set for Barnard Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday and Sunday.
A final training squad of 16 players has been named which goes into camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. From there, the technical team led by coach Daniel Hondo will choose the 12 players to represent the country at the qualifiers. The team captain will be named on the same day when the squad of 12 is announced.
The notable absentee from the training squad is Hilton Mudariki who has been ruled out by a hamstring injury he picked up in Kenya. Hondo played down Mudariki’s absence from the team saying that gives a chance to other players to prove their worth.
“It is a chance for the other guys to step up, we are going to miss Hilton but I don’t think it is a major problem. We are taking all the 16 players training at the High Performance Centre that is going to increase competition at training,’’ said Hondo.
The 16-men squad shows a return for Germany based Manasah Sita, Western Province loose forward Tapiwa Tsomondo while Mkhululi Ndlela who is studying in South Africa has a chance to make his international debut.
On the team’s chances at the two-day qualifiers, Hondo believes that if they keep to their plans then every thing will fall into place. The key, Hondo reckons is to finish the group stage matches on a good note.
At the 12-team qualifiers, the Cheetahs have been drawn to play in Pool B with Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia with all the group stage fixtures set for Saturday. Zimbabwe open their account against Nigeria, before they clash with Zambia and conclude their pool fixtures when they meet Uganda.
On the second day, the teams will be ranked with those in position one to eight going through to the cup quarter-finals while the rest of the countries proceed to their own play-offs.
With the best rugby playing country in the continent South Africa having automatically sealed their spot in Brazil next year via last season’s Sevens World Series, Kenya poses the biggest threat to Zimbabwe’s quest to book a ticket to the Summer Olympics.
The teams that win the African qualifier automatically qualifies for the Olympics while the runners up have an opportunity to book their spot through an inter confederation playoff.
Meanwhile, six uncapped players are in the final Zimbabwe national 15s rugby squad for the Hong Kong Four Nation event which starts on Friday.
The new faces in the Sables squad are the South Africa based lock David Kapuya, eighth man Alva Senderayi, flyhalf Kuziva Kazembe, prop Gabriel Sipapati, centre Ngonidzashe Chibuwe and centre Malvern Maparura who plays club rugby locally.
Making a return to the Sables fold are United States of America based utility backline player Lungile Tshuma, wing Manasah Sita who is playing club rugby in Germany, fullback Tafadzwa Mhende as well as Spain based lock Jan Ferreira.
Coach Cyprian Mandenge said sevens rugby players Sita, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Stephan Hunduza, Biselele Tshamala and Riaan O’Neil will travel to Hong Kong after turning out for the Cheetahs in the Olympic qualifiers in South Africa on Saturday and Sunday. This means the Sables will only have 21 players for their opening clash against host nation Hong Kong on Friday with the five sevens players available for the second fixture where Zimbabwe take on Russia. Zimbabwe’s last match of the tournament is on 21 November when they square off against Portugal.
Mandenge said it was difficult to prepare for the trip to Hong Kong since only six players in the 26 men squad are based in Zimbabwe with the rest of the players dotted all over the world. The locally based players who include skipper Denford Mutamangira and his deputy Tichafara Makwanya leave for Hong Kong tomorrow.
“It has been tough, only six guys based locally, everyone else we are meeting in Hong Kong, no training, hopefully we will gel, these guys have not played together, we just have to give it our best shot, we are looking at building a side for 2019 World Cup, our squad should start shaping up,’’ said Mandenge.
In 2012, the Sables participated in a similar event in the United Arab Emirates which featured Belgium, Hong Kong and UAE. Zimbabwe finished second from bottom with five points, all of them secured in a 65-14 victory over UAE while Belgium won the competition.
Sables squad
Denford Mutamangira (captain) , Tatenda Murwira, Farai Mudariki, Brian Makamure, Gabriel Sipapati, Royal Mwale, Andrew Rose, Gerald Sibanda, Tichafara Makwanya (vice captain), Charles Jiji, David Kapuya, Alva Senderayi , Kuziva Kazembe, Malvern Maparura, Ngonidzashe Chibuwe , Lungile Tshuma, Manasah Sita, Martin Wolfenden, Tafadzwa Mhende, Jan Ferreira, Nicolo Nyemba, Manasah Sita, Riaan O’Neil, Biselele Tshamala, Stephan Hunduza, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo.
Zimbabwe Cheetahs
Jacques Leitao, Kudakwashe Chiwanza, Njabulo Ndlovu, Kilvan Magunje, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Stephan Hunduza, Graham Kaulback, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Manasah Sita, Mkhululi Ndlela, Takudzwa Francisco, Boyd Rouse, Lenience Tambwera, Shayne Makombe, Biselele Tshamala, Riaan O’Neill
derick.khumalo