adminMehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe national Sevens rugby team, the Cheetahs, have been thrown into a tough pool at the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The tournament, to be played on Saturday and Sunday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, is the third leg of the International Rugby Board World Sevens Series. Zimbabwe have been drawn to play against Argentina, England and Samoa in Pool D with all the group matches to be played on Saturday. All of Zimbabwe’s opponents are IRB core teams, which means that they participate in all the nine IRB World Series tournaments while Zimbabwe does not have core status and only takes part in selected tournaments on an invitational basis.
The Cheetahs start off with a match against Argentina, followed by a clash with England and round off their pool assignments when they square off against Samoa.
After two rounds of action in Australia and United Arab Emirates, England are in fourth place with 32 points, Argentina are eighth with 18 points while Pacific Islanders Samoa are a place down at ninth with 15 points.
Cheetahs coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba acknowledged that his team was not going to have it easy in South Africa but feels it is a reasonable draw since none of the teams in Zimbabwe’s pool made it into the final of the competition in Dubai where Fiji were crowned champions with a 29-17 over South Africa last Sunday.
“It is a tough group, but the fairest considering that all the teams in our group did not make the final. Having said that the core teams will be coming out to prove a point and better from their last weekend performance. With a fairly young squad it’s going to be tough for us,’’ said Nyamutsamba. The coach, however, did not make the trip to South Africa because of what he described as personal reasons. Skipper Jacques Leitao made himself unavailable for the tournament, leaving Fortune Chipendu to lead the team.
Former Cheetahs coach Liam Middleton, recently appointed as Zimbabwe Rugby Union technical director, has taken charge of the team with the assistance of ex- Cheetahs vice-captain Daniel Hondo who has retired from the short version of the game.
Zimbabwe Sevens rugby stalwart Wesley Mbanje did not make it into the team with the selectors opting for young yet to be capped winger Brandon Boshi, a member of the Zimbabwe Under-18 team which took in the Coca-Cola Craven Week in South Africa.
At the same tournament last year, Zimbabwe went down 33-0 to Spain in the Shield final. This was after they had lost all their all their Pool D matches to Canada, Portugal and the United States of America. They went on to lose 24-14 to Australia in the Bowl quarter-finals.
Zimbabwe Cheetahs squad in South Africa
Fortune Chipendu(captain), Gardner Nechironga, Tangai Nemadire, Njabulo Ndlovu, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Kilvan Magunje, Hilton Mudariki, Boyd Rouse, Biselele Tshamala, Lenience Tambwera, Brandon Boshi, Tapiwa Tsomondo.
Zimbabwe Pool D fixtures and kick off times
Saturday 7 December, Zimbabwe v Argentina (12:06 Zimbabwean time), Zimbabwe v England (14:50 Zimbabwean time), Zimbabwe v Samoa (17:58 Zimbabwean time)
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