Nyamutsamba unfazed

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AMID reports of a clandestine plot to depose him as coach on the eve of the Rugby World Cup Sevens, Zimbabwe gaffer Gilbert Nyamutsamba remains calm as he focusses on the roadmap he has drafted for the Cheetahs ahead of the tournament. Nyamutsamba hogged the limelight last month when he guided the Cheetahs to a place at the World Cup in San Francisco in the United States in July next year.

What really captured the imagination is the fact that the 46-year-old unassuming coach, whose devotion to the domestic game has been unquestionable since his playing days, toiled with the Cheetahs using little resources, to qualify for the global Sevens Rugby showcase. The Bulawayo businessman has also been involved in development programmes in his hometown where he helped a number of schools in the City of Kings including Petra, Milton and also in the Western Suburbs development team.

But just a month after the Cheetahs basked in the glory of that qualification, it has emerged there is a plot that borders on a hatchet job to remove Nyamutsamba from his post. This comes as many players, coaches and administrators are understood to be jostling for a place on the delegation that will make it to the glitz and glamour of San Francisco.

The Sport and Recreation Commission appear to have inadvertently played into the plot, when questioning Nyamutsamba’s qualifications and capacity to coach a World Cup squad in their probe report on the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, without appearing to have done enough due diligence. That opened the doors for such names like Liam Middleton to be thrown into the fray despite the England-based coach’s history with the Cheetahs.

“I would not like to think there is a plot to remove our Technical Team before the World Cup, ideally with all the work that Donald (Mangenje) and myself have put in over the last year to ensure that we qualify, which is huge.