Nyamutsamba hails Cheetahs victory

tournament and the Castle Sevens tournament here at the weekend marks a turning point in the fortunes of his team.
The Cheetahs made it a double at the Lusaka Showgrounds after they won the inaugural Confederation of African Rugby tournament that was played in a round robin format on Saturday before successfully defending their title in the Castle Sevens edition on Sunday.
The Cheetahs meant business in the tournament that had a new format this year as the national teams played in the CAR tournament first before progressing to the Castle Sevens.
They won all their games in both tournaments.
Led by Gardner Nechironga – who was dully named Player-of-the-Tournament – with great support from Wes Mbanje, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Justin Coles and Daniel Hondo in attack, the Cheetahs were impressive.
The defence stood firm with captain Jacques Leitao proving a vital cog in the Cheetahs’ guard while Graham Kaulback, Njabulo Ndlovu, Fortune Chipendu, Manasah Sita, Lloyd Machanjaira and Jonathan McWade had a good outing.
Kenya playing under the Shujaa name were also part of the teams that took part n the tournament and it was this side that the Cheetahs beat in the Castle Cup to put the icing on the CAR Cup cake.
Like, Zimbabwe, Kenya fielded their IRB Sevens Series team but the Cheetahs were not moved and led from the beginning of the game to win the final 21-12 against a team that had been giving them problems in the IRB tournaments.
Having won the event four times before, the Cheetahs became the first side to win the Castle Sevens tournament five times – beating a record they shared with Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.
“It has been an exciting tournament for us, there were a lot of challenges and taking part in two tournaments and winning them both in the same weekend shows how much the boys are prepared to do for the game.
“We came here with the aim of winning both tournaments and we did and so I am happy with that given that the teams here were better prepared this year as they knew what was at stake.
“Our win against Kenya shows that there is work in progress in Zimbabwe and we are not taking anything lightly and I am sure it is a turning point for Zimbabwe rugby, especially the Cheetahs here.
“The win will definitely help develop confidence in the boys and this shows that we are able to compete against some big sides in the Sevens game and, with the Olympics in mind, we hope we will make it,” said Nyamutsamba.
However, the Cheetahs were not the only Zimbabwe side at the tournament.
Three other sides travelled for the event but all walked out of the tournament empty handed as the women’s side – the Pangolins – fell 7-10 in the final against Zambia.
The Goshawks and Matabeleland were not good enough for silverware but it was the poor showing by the Pangolins in the final against Zambia that was heartbreaking.
Having beaten Zambia at the BancABC tournament in Zimbabwe last year, the Pangolins were largely expected to continue with their winning form against their northern neighbours.
And they surely started the tournament on the right footing, scoring the biggest win of the day on Saturday when they beat Zambia B 50-0, and went on to celebrate a close 19-14 win over the Zambia A.
And every Pangolins faithful thought the Zimbabweans were in the right Mood to take the trophy only for the team to fall to Zambia when it mattered most.
Coach, Abby Govere, was taking charge of the Pangolins for the first time as head coach having previously worked under former coach Nonsikelelo “Sykes” Sibanda.
Clearly, in the final, her technical shortcomings at this level were exposed.
Govere needed to rest some of her best players, when playing the weaker teams, and then bring them in for the bigger challenges.
But that did not happen and it proved costly in the end. Govere blamed the defeat to Zambia in the final on the “little mistakes” her side made,.
“We made little mistakes in the final and I feel we had a better chance of winning the tournament, after all, their tries were by luck and one was an intercepted pass. “About making substitutions and resting other players every coach has their own plans as to when they will do so.
“First we had to consider the opposition we were playing before making the substitutions but unfortunately our final was supposed to be 10 minutes per half. “But it was cut down to seven minutes each half and that had an effect on my plans as coach as we were only told that during the game.
“Three minutes (per half) is a lot of time especially if you end up losing by three points.
“But we have to keep our heads up and focus on the next tournaments we are going to have,” said govere.