Vusumuzi Dube
Tadious Manyepo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
GEMS coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki has dropped a bombshell.
He claims that something is corky in the national team camp.
Mutsauki hasn’t been showing up for press conferences ever since the Netball World Cup started here last Friday as he has been assigning his deputy Tatenda Shinya.
But yesterday, he decided to open up following yet another humiliating defeat to Barbados in the 13th-16th placement play-off match.
“Something is not right in our camp. This is not the way we play,” said Mutsauki.
Zimbabwe lost 62-45 to the Caribbean Islanders throwing their hopes of clipping a 13th place finish at the global fiesta at high risk.
The Gems were relegated to the lowly contest after losing all their group matches in the preliminary rounds to Pool A table toppers Australia, Fiji and Tonga.
While it is disappointing enough for a team that was aiming for a top-four finish before the competition started to be battling to finish 13th, the girls are not showing any hunger and Barbados literally outsmarted them without getting into second gear.
For a team that has been showing so much potential with a fusion of both experience and determination to surrender the fights in the manner they have been in the past four games is not only disappointing but suspicious for gaffer Mutsauki.
While refusing to give out more, the coach who would be the easiest scapegoat when the blame game pitches up, said he is sure there is something happening behind his back.
“We have tried several times to talk to the girls but nothing has changed. All I can say is that something is not right in our camp. I can’t say much but I am disappointed by this team,” he said.
“I have told them to adjust but nothing has come to fruition. What I know is this is a very good team as we have shown before and during the Netball World Cup qualifiers but it’s now a different story here.
“I am trying to find out (what’s exactly wrong) right now but it’s not good and I am not happy at all”.
He said lack of proper preparations could have contributed to the poor showing by the team as well.
“The team’s mental fitness is not up there. I am sure they have a lot of pressure on their side given most of them are still very young.
“Our preparations were very poor if I may say. We had very little time in camp. If you remember very well in 2019 when we made our bow at the World Cup, we had three months in camp. We also had two trips to South Africa and Uganda but this time we played our first friendly match when we were already here for the main competition.
“I think that also affected the team in terms of muscle load both mentally and physically.
“It is very difficult for the players to adjust”.
In yesterday’s match, the Gems, as they have always done, looked confused and tired.
They never attempted to put a real fight into the game as they allowed Barbados, a team they beat 67-34 in a friendly game just six days ago to pummel them at will.
Despite enjoying most of the support at the arena, the Gems were just dismal.
They literally surrendered their turnovers to Barbados just too often.
There was no real hunger from this group and one wonders how most of them even found their way into the national team.
Probably only Nicole Muzanenamo, who Mutsauki singled out, wanted to play the game as she was constantly rotated in different positions across the court.
At 21, the Greefuel star is the youngest Gem at this fiesta.
“Nichole is a very good player overall. She is good defensively and offensively and we needed her most in the middle of the court because of her high qualities.
“We then had to gamble with her to move into Wing Attack as we tried to salvage something out of this game”.
Zimbabwe will play Sri Lanka and Singapore in their remaining matches in the bottom four placement group hoping to salvage national pride.
Netball World Cup coverage proudly brought to you by Herentals Group of Colleges and Zororo-Phumulani.
Online Reporter