Magunje bounces back

Magunje bounced back into the Cheetahs’ travelling squad for their inaugural European tour on the International Rugby Board World Sevens Series.
Having last featured for the Zimbabwe Sevens rugby side during the Spar Zimbabwe Sevens International tournament at Harare Sports Club two months ago, Magunje missed out on the Cheetahs tour of Asia where they blew the chance to qualify as a core member.
But for the first time, Magunje is out of Africa with the Cheetahs who are preparing to battle for the Scotland Sevens on Saturday after he replaced captain Jacques Leitao.
According to team manager Bruce Hobson, Leitao did not travel with the team as he is celebrating the birth of his baby and is also unavailable due to work commitments.
“Jacques did not travel with us having been blessed by a new baby in the family and he also has pressing work commitments and this is one of the reasons we have opted to travel with an extra gas man.
“The last time (in Hong Kong) we travelled with six forwards but Njabulo (Ndlovu) got injured in the early stages of the tournament, good for us he has recovered now so Wes (Mbanje) will give running time to Kilvan.
“There is no easy tournament on the series and what even makes this one more difficult is that it is a back-to-back tournament with the London leg so there is a lot of physical and mental fitness required,” said the former XVs Under-21 manager.
This means that this is the only change that has been made to the side that travelled to Hong Kong as the forward has been replaced by a backliner to give more attacking options to coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba.
And Nyamutsamba has carried with him a better side who are willing to add another silverware to their collection as they have so far managed only one out of the three Word Series tournaments they have taken part in so far.
“We are here to compete, it’s getting to the end of the season and we want to show that we deserve to be playing with the higher end teams. We’ve been in training camp already for two weeks now in Zimbabwe, so we hope to gel well,” Cheetahs centre Wesley Mbanje told irb.com.
Zimbabwe are one of the four teams that were invited to take part in the Glasgow and London back-to-back tournaments that kick-off on Friday in Scotland before the teams travel to London for the final leg.
The Cheetahs are in Pool C of the 16-team tournament where they have been drawn against Fiji, Portugal and Argentina and they believe that they can put up a competitive display in the two-day tournament.
On Saturday, Zimbabwe open their quest for glory with a date against Fiji in the fourth game of the tournament before they face off Argentina and finish their first round games against Portugal.
Nyamutsamba has a fair knowledge of his opposition having previously drawn and beaten World Cup finalists Argentina and two months ago played against Portugal in Hong Kong.
However, the Cheetahs have only managed a Bowl from the three tournaments they have take part in so far this season.
In Pool C, Zimbabwe are the only none core members having failed to attain that status in the Asian leg of the World Series at the expense of Portugal who eventually qualified.
Cheetahs Squad
Fortune Chipendu, Njabulo Ndlovu, Justin Coles, Manasha Sita, Mike Morris, Tangai Nemadire, Graham Kaulback, Daniel Hondo, Gerald Sibanda, Gardner Nechironga, Wes Mbanje, Kilvan Magunje.