Cheetahs return to action

re-branded Castle Sevens tournament in Lusaka, Zambia.
The tournament will run from August 26-28 and is now known as the South Region Castle Sevens tournament.

Zimbabwe are four-time champions, a record they share with Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, having last won the tournament last year.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are the two countries that have mostly been taking part in the tournament also used as part of the preparations for Kenya’s Mosi Sevens.
But this year the Cheetahs will take the competition with a different approach after the Confederation of African Rugby indicated that the tourney will now serve as a seeding platform.

This has seen the tournament changing its format and eight national teams are expected to take part, including Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, hosts Zambia and Swaziland.
This means that the tournament will have an effect on teams that are currently playing in the International Rugby Board World Sevens Series in Africa.
However, South Africa will not be affected by these tournaments as they are full Sevens Series members and do not play African tournaments and qualifiers.

But for teams like Zimbabwe, there will be a lot on stake as the way they perform during these tournaments would determine their opponents at the Sevens Series.
At the moment Zimbabwe take part at the opening tournaments in Dubai and George and it is the way they perform at these two tournaments that determine if they will be invited for the Hong Kong leg of the series.

But the Castle Sevens could also soon be used for inviting Zimbabwe for legs like the Hong Kong and Cheetahs’ manager Bruce Hobson yesterday said they were not taking the tournament lightly.
“The change of format has seen eight countries taking part in the event this year and obviously this means there is going to be more competition.
“This is because these games will have an effect on the teams as they will be used as seeding for the IRB tournaments like the Sevens Series,” said the former Zimbabwe Rugby Union president.

Hobson added that the locally-based Cheetahs, and some of the Under-19 and Under-20 players, were training at the Old Georgians Sports Club.
The local players are expected to be joined by the foreign-based players who include Manasah Sita from Germany, Fortune Chipendu, Gardner Nechironga and Njabulo Ndlovu from South Africa.
He added that there were also a number of players, based outside Zimbabwe, which they were going to have a look at when full camp resumes on August 21.

“We are also going to have a look at players like Mike Morris from Pretoria but obviously we will have more experienced players who include Graham Kaulback, Jonathan McWade, Wes Mbanje and Gerald Sibanda.

“But the locally based players like Daniel Hondo, (captain) Jacques Leitao and Justin Coles are training every Monday and Wednesday at OGs because of their club commitments.
“We will obviously get to train more as we get closer to the date of the tournament especially when the boys get into full camp on the 21st of this month,” he said.