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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
RECENTLY appointed Zimbabwe senior men’s national rugby team coach, Peter de Villiers is meeting all potential Sables players as he prepares for the team’s 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifiers which start in June.
Aaron Jani, the Zimbabwe Rugby Union president said they had hired a car for De Villiers to make sure that he meets with all players keen to play for the Sables this year. Jani indicated that De Villiers had already met players in Cape Town and is now doing the same in Johannesburg with the exercise to come to a conclusion at the end of the month.
“He is travelling the whole of South Africa, we have hired a car for him. He has done Cape Town, now in Johannesburg. He will do these meetings for as long as necessary up to the end of the month,’’ said Jani.
According to the ZRU boss, consultants have been engaged to where there is a sizeable number of Zimbabwean players. The duties of the consultants are among others to find and document all Zimbabwean players or those eligible to represent the country in terms of World Rugby regulations.
“We have created consultants for every geographical area where there is a sizeable group of players. Matthew Goby in Gauteng, Jason Maritz in Cape Town, Ricky Chirengede in Durban. We will be appointing for Australia, Europe and UK next week,’’ Jani said.
De Villiers was on 7 February unveiled as the new Sables coach with his biggest task being to take Zimbabwe to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Zimbabwe take on Morocco, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda and Tunisia as they aim to qualify for next year’s tournament in Japan. The matches will be played from June to August. — @Mdawini_29
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