Cheetahs lose opening match

It was in the second Pool E match that the Cheetahs started on the wrong footing after Spain’s Javier Canosa, captain Pablo Feijoo and Pedro Martin all scored against Zimbabwe as the went on to beat the Cheetahs in the crucial 2012/13 World Series qualifier.
Zimbabwe tried to come back in the second half but they only managed one try that came through Germany-based Gardner Nechironga but this was too little, too late and Tangai Nemadire missed the conversion.
This placed Zimbabwe on third position in the four-team group as former World Series core member Canada thrashed the Philippines 35-5 to top the group while Spain’s win made them second with the Asians anchoring at the bottom of the group.
For Zimbabwe this means the Cheetahs will have to put up a better show today when they take on Canada and the Philippines in the deciding two games if they are to entertain any chances of finishing among the top.
The top three teams in this second tier 12-team competition will gain the core team status at the end of the tournament tomorrow.
The Cheetahs are hoping to make it for the quarter-finals which will see the top two teams in each of the three groups and the two best runners-up making it for the last eight.
It will be at the end of the day tomorrow that the two finalists and the winner of the third place play-off automatically gain core status from the 2012/13 World Series season.
Canada are clearly the toughest team in this group, have a high match fitness standard having played four of the past five tournaments this season and are a former core member but they lost the core status three years ago.
They surely fired warning shots, making their intentions clear in the way they played against the Philippines yesterday as they would like to bounce back into the elite league.
On the current pool standings Canada and Spain both have three points and the Canadians are leading the pack courtesy of a superior points difference while the Philippines are bottom of the log as they have suffered the biggest defeat so far.
However, it was the poor show by the Cheetahs yesterday that was disappointing and today’s game against Canada will have a huge bearing on their prospects.
Zimbabwe have been fighting to gain the core status over the past several years with the International Rugby Board even showing confidence in the Cheetahs by increasing the number of tournaments they play from two to five over the last few years.
The Cheetahs traditionally took part in the then opening leg of the World Series in Dubai and also travelled to South Africa to complete the back-to-back opening tournaments.
Depending on their performance at these two events, the Cheetahs would be invited to take part at the Hong Kong leg but last year the Cheetahs saw the Edinburgh (Scotland) and London (Britain) being added to their tournaments tally.
Maybe there was something wrong with the starting line-up, maybe it was about the combinations and getting them right, maybe the players were psychologically not prepared for the game but at the end of the day the Cheetahs proved not equal to the task.
However, it was the defence that coast the Cheetahs the game as there were a number of mistimed tackles, dropped balls and, like in all the games, it is better to start with the strongest side and in this case Manasah Sita and Gerald Sibanda seemed the missing links.
If the Cheetahs were able to defend well, then they could have been more confident and would not have been as nervous.
Cheetahs Squad:
Fortune Chipendu, Jacques Leitao (captain), Mike Morris, Manasah Sita, Justin Coles, Graham Kaulback, Kilvan Magunje, Daniel Hondo, Gerald Sibanda, Tangai Nemadire, Jonathan Mcwade, Wesley Mbanje, Njabulo Ndlovu, Gardner Nechironga.