adminZIMBABWE Rugby Union president John Falkenberg has maintained that Gilbert Nyamutsamba still remains the Zimbabwe national Sevens rugby team coach.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival on Thursday at his former school Prince Edward High School in Harare, Falkenberg said Nyamutsamba has done a marvellous job as Cheetahs coach and is in fact by far the best Sevens rugby mentor in the country and should have therefore been treated in a better manner.
According to Falkenberg, Nyamutsamba will remain coach of the Cheetahs until the end of the year with chances that his contract would be renewed.
“Gilbert Nyamutsamba is still the national Sevens rugby team coach, nothing has changed. He has done a tremendous job, his record speaks for itself, he is the best Sevens coach we have in Zimbabwe. For someone who has done so much he deserves respect. He will always be part of the set up and we are also looking at bringing back someone like Victor Olonga,’’ said Falkenberg.
The comments by the ZRU leader comes in the wake of an embarrassing scenario which saw the union’s technical director Liam Middleton declaring himself the Cheetahs coach ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens at the end of March.
The team coached by Middleton went on to fail to attain IRB World Sevens Series core membership status which could have brought with it huge financial benefits for ZRU.
On how they were going to make sure that such a situation did not reoccur, Falkenberg said proper structures had been put in place to that effect.
On preparations by the national 15s rugby team the Sables for the upcoming 2015 International Rugby Board Rugby World Cup qualifiers in Madagascar at the end of next month, Falkenberg said they were working closely with the South African Rugby Union in fine tuning the team for the qualifiers.
According to Falkenberg, the Sables were likely to play a number of South African provincial sides. So far the Valke, Limpopo Blue Bulls and the Blue Bulls Under-21 have been identified as potential opponents for the Sables.
In terms of sponsorship, the ZRU boss disclosed that they were still in talks with two local telecommunication companies to sponsor the Sables with chances that a deal could be reached in two weeks’ time. This newspaper has it on good authority that the firms that have been approached by ZRU to sponsor the Sables are Econet Wireless and NetOne.
Falkenberg said he preferred a situation where the Brendon Dawson coached Sables secured their qualification for England in Madagascar by finishing on top of the four team qualifier as anything to the contrary would be costly to ZRU.
The Sables will be assured of a place in England next year if they finish on top of the log in Madagascar but will still stand a chance even if they end second as they will be sent to a qualifier which the IRB has called “Repachage” process where the runner-up plays against teams from other continents.
Zimbabwe were the first African nation to qualify for the IRB Rugby World Cup in 1987 when the global rugby showpiece took place in New Zealand and were also there when the World Cup was held in 1991 but have never appeared since then.
Meanwhile South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins has pledged his support for the Zimbabwe Rugby Union which will pave way for Zimbabwe to have a team participating in one of the South African domestic competitions next year.
The SARU boss has also pledged to ensure that Zimbabwe would be the venue for an international tournament next year.
Hoskins who is also the International Rugby Board vice-president was in Zimbabwe on a five-day fact finding mission meant to restore relations between SARU and ZRU which saw him attend the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival at Prince Edward High School in Harare and was guest speaker at a ZRU organised Zimbabwe Sables fund-raising dinner last Wednesday evening held at a hotel here.
It was at the fund-raising dinner which was intended to raise funds for the national 15s men’s team which goes into a crucial 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup qualifier to be staged in Madagascar at the end of next month where the SARU boss gave his assurance that he was going to ensure that Zimbabwe rugby got back into international spotlight.
Hoskins made an undertaking to re-establish ZRU’s relations with the Confederation of African Rugby and the IRB because he felt that Zimbabwe rugby has been in the international wilderness for a long time.
Online Reporter