adminprevious appearance at this stage.
The Cheetahs won the Bowl at the 2009 edition of the global showcase after finishing 17th, but under the guidance of coach Gilbert “Gidza” Nyamutsamba their performance pushed them into the top 15 to close on 13 over the weekend.
Going into the competition the Cheetahs had the second highest number of players with World Cup experience in six players — captain Jacques Leitao, Daniel Hondo, Gardner Nechironga, Tangai Nemadire, Wensely Mbanje and Fortunate Chipendu.
The other six — Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Michael Morris, Njabulo Ndlovu, Kilvan Magunje, Lucky Sithole and Garth Ziegler — came into the Cheetahs fold after the 2009 World Cup that was held in Dubai.
Zimbabwe had their best preparations for the tournament as home-based players were given contracts by the Sevens committee, had a training schedule to follow and all had dietary programmes with assessment at least once every month.
The Cheetahs took part at the Port Elizabeth leg of the World Sevens Series last December before hosting their own Spar Zimbabwe International tournament where they finished third.
However, their highlight in the build-up to the World Cup was when they won the core membership qualifier tournament in Hong Kong, travelled to Kenya for the Africa Cup before missing out on core membership in London.
And for an amateur side, this was a good performance as they did all this with the little resources they had to stage a good show against Samoa in the opening game losing by a converted try margin before going on to move four places up on the World Cup standings.
The performance pleased Nyamutsamba who feels his side, including the youthful players who were unfortunate to make it for the traveling 12, has a lot of potential.
“Our points left us in the top 15 because we were 13th at the end of this (2013) World Cup, at the previous (2009) tournament we finished 17th and for me every positive counts and with this performance I expect that we go a bit further.
“The game (against Samoa) was tough but l’m proud of the spirited performance displayed by the Cheetahs against one of the world’s best Sevens rugby teams.
“I believe in our potential and therefore, personally, I always expect more from the players and will always demand more from the team.
“Going into the tournament I had set a tough but achievable target and that was to be in the top 15.
“Target wise I’m happy with what we achieved and the team deserved it after such a fine performance,” said the former Cheetahs and Sables winger.
Zimbabwe first lost 14-21 to Samoa in the opening game, went on to suffer their biggest loss at the tournament as they fell 5-31 to Kenya, another core World Series side that has also turned professional, before getting the better of debutantes the Philippines 19-7.
Having finished third in Pool C, Zimbabwe were again drawn to play Samoa in the Plate quarter final and it was this 17-26 loss that ended their dream.
“The draw for our first Plate participation was a tough one. Samoa was always going to be a difficult game for us but the fact that we had played well and had a very close opening game against the same side gave us some encouragement and confidence going into the knockout stages.
“However, at the same time I knew that they (Samoa) were going to come even harder at us because after the first game they did not view us as push-overs anymore but viewed us as respected opponents who could easily upset them.
“Kenya have improved so much over the past few years and now that there are a professional side the results are begging to show in the way they perform in the World Series.
“Kenya were beatable, but the tough opening game played a (psychological) part in our defeat to Kenya,” added Nyamutsamba.
However, there were some talking points in the Plate quarter final against Samoa as the Pacific Ocean islanders were awarded a try with Paul Perez’s foot out of touch while a penalty try was given to the Samoans with the ball in hand.
“The referee is closest to the action and he blows as he sees, yes some analysts could argue that some decisions that should have gone our way didn’t, yes, as much as some defining decisions during the match didn’t go our way I still believe the ref has the final say and that should be respected.”
The side was expected to leave Moscow in the early hours of today and are scheduled to touch down at the Harare International Airport this evening.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Under-17 schools rugby side staged a strong second-half comeback from 12-5 down against Griquas Country Districts to register a deserved 15-12 victory in the Grant Khomo festival at the Isak Steyl Stadium in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.
Cheetahs Squad: Fortunate Chipendu, Jacques Leitao (captain), Lucky Sithole, Njabulo Ndlovu, Garth Ziegler, Daniel Hondo, Tangai Nemadire, Gardner Nechironga, Wes Mbanje, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Mike Morris, Kilvan Magunje.
Coach: Gilbert Nyamutsamba
Manager: Bruce Hobson
Physio: Sofia Stephens
Online Reporter