Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
JUST what the doctor ordered!
Zimbabwe got off to a flier in their bid to claim honours at the 2025 Rugby Africa Sevens Cup, with the Cheetahs topping their Pool C following a 100 percent record on Day One at the Labourdonnais Sports Grounds in Mauritius yesterday.
The Cheetahs joined South Africa and Kenya A sides as the only teams to proceed to the knockout stage without tasting defeat.
Matchday One success set the Cheetahs on a collision course with defending champions and Pool A runners-up, Uganda, this morning.
Zimbabwe started off the day with a morning 42-7 demolition job on hosts Mauritius before beating North African side Tunisia 31-7.
This meant that their final group game against Madagascar turned out to be a top-of-the-table decider as the Indian Ocean islanders had also prevailed in their matches against Mauritius and Tunisia.
Madagascar beat Mauritius 39-7 and accounted for Tunisia 31-7.
The match-up between the Cheetahs and Madagascar lived up to the billing, but it was former champions Zimbabwe who emerged 21-7 victors from that thriller.
While the encounter may have lacked in high scores, it amply made up with end-to-end action.
In the end, Zimbabwe got their tries from the trio of Edward Sigauke, Carlos Matematema and Dion Khumalo.
Ryan Musumhi then chipped in with three conversions. Coach Ricky Chirengende was naturally pleased with his charges’ fine day in the office.
“Yeah, I think it was a good day,” he said. “We started a bit slow against Tunisia but gradually improved as the day went on.
“The conditions were favourable. It was very wet and, again, this was the first time that this team was playing together, so I graded their performance on a curve.
“A couple of system and individual errors were to be expected but, thankfully, we managed to get the wins.”
For finishing Pool C runners-up, Madagascar set themselves up for a showdown with Kenya.
Kenya’s A side advanced after powering past Ghana (33-0), Cote d’Ivoire (36-0) and Uganda, whom they edged 12-5 in an East African derby that was delivered in Port Louis in Mauritius.
It was almost a near-perfect day for the Kenya Morans after they almost finished the day without conceding a try.
Unfortunately, that streak was broken in their last match of the day when they got their lick back over defending champions Uganda.
Uganda beat Kenya in the final to lift the 2024 title.
With Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa — the continents’ top sevens sides — all securing passage to the next round, there are a lot of expectations going into Day Two of the tournament.
“Day Two is always the tricky day in sevens rugby,” said Chirengende. “I just had a talk with the boys and told that now that we have celebrated, Day Two is a whole different ball game.
“Day Two is the money day.
“We will now be playing knockout rugby; that is where we need to stand and make it count.”
Results:
Zimbabwe 31-17 Tunisia
Zimbabwe 42-7 Mauritius
Zimbabwe 21-7 Madagascar
Online Reporter