adminThe Cheetahs got a favourable World Cup draw, as they were drawn in Pool C where they are expected to take on giants Samoa, the Philippines and Kenya in a tournament that runs from June 28 to 30.
Fortune Chipendu, Cheetahs captain Jacques Leitao, Lucky Sithole, Njabulo Ndlovu, Tapiwa Tsomondo, KIlvan Magunje, Daniel Hondo, Gardner Nechironga, Tangai Nemadire, Garth Zieglar and Tafadzwa Chitokwindo are some of the key Cheetahs that have been named in the provisional Sables squad.
Stephen Hunduza, Shayne Makombe Jafet Ndebele Phillimon Machisa are also some of the Cheetahs that have been named in the 52-man Sables provisional squad expected to be trimmed before the end of the week.
The Sables are scheduled to play their season-opening friendly when they travel to South Africa and will take the Falcons, also known as Valke, and Mpumalanga Pumas next Friday.
And with this tour clashing with the Cheetahs’ preparation home-stretch, most of the Cheetahs will not be available and coach, Gilbert “Gidza” Nyamutsamba, would like to make the most of the time with his players ahead of the World Cup.
The Sevens side has had a number of preparatory tournaments this year having first hosted the Spar Zimbabwe Sevens international tournament where they finished as Plate winners, travelled to Hong Hong, sent a youthful side to Kenya before taking part in London.
However, their final preparatory tournament, the Zambia Castle Sevens, was cancelled leaving the Cheetahs with no option but to have a longer training period before the World Cup.
Nyamutsamba, who pledged loyalty to his players, told The Herald his main aim was to do better than their last performance at the World Cup.
“It is going to be very difficult to include more players into the programme because of the preparations, planning for combinations and complexities of Sevens,” said Nyamutsamba.
“When a side is going for such a big tournament, it is obvious that other players, who have not been in the system, start to draw interest to play for the Cheetahs but I feel that it will be unfair on the part of the players who struggled for the team to be where it is today.
“I guess it is in the best interest of the team to work with those who expressed interest in tough times, when things were not good.
“And the reasons I believe that we are going to make it is that we are going to start our preparations early, because of the contracts, it is actually going to be a six-month preparation for the World Cup.”
Online Reporter