Rugby selection final leg on

Union, through the Cheetahs Sevens brand, has been conducting national trials over the past three weeks and these are set to come to a conclusion this afternoon at Sports Club.

Having played the last three tournaments at Old Hararians Sports Club, Gweru Sports Club and Harare Sports Club rugby field, today’s games — unlike last year — will not take place at the cricket field.

Last year the Summer Series tournament, prior to the international tournament, took place at the cricket field as a trial run to the Spar international tournament.

This is the first time, in over a decade, that the ZRU have managed to conduct national trials as the selection process started at Old Hararians for the Northern Region teams, mostly Harare clubs, and Mutare Sports Club.

The second leg of the selection took place in Gweru two weeks ago where teams from Masvingo, Bulawayo, Zvishavane and Gweru gathered.
It was the first time that Gweru hosted a tournament of such magnitude in more than a decade.

And, today, players who were selected from the two regions will compete for places in the final selection having played in the same kind of tournament at the same venue last week.

Cheetahs’ coach, Gilbert “Gidza” Nyamutsamba, believes that the re-introduced selection process was one of the missing links in hunting for Sevens talent in the country and is confident in the class of players that will be selected.

Nyamutsamba is also one of the selectors, together with former Sables and Cheetahs scrummy Donald “Brasco” Mangenje, in a panel that has former Young Sables head of technical Richard Kershaw as convenor.
However, Nyamutsamba is happy with what he has seen so far.

“I am happy that we have managed to get a better selection process back on stage and this is good for the development of the game, there is more competition and this obviously means the standard of the game rises.

“This has made the job easier for me as well because a lot of players started expressing interest in playing for Zimbabwe and at the same time, with the new format of selection where regional and national games take place, the player base has widened,” said Nyamutsamba.

The two sides that will be selected this afternoon will feature at the Spar International but, most importantly, the international tournament will be used to select the side that will represent country at the Hong Kong tournament two weeks later.
And this is why Nyamutsamba is taking every stage of the selection process with due caution.

“I have been very impressed by the turnout, the games have been very competitive and the talent we have witnessed at the national trials is good and that is going to reflect on the teams we will chose to represent Zimbabwe at the Spar and Hong Kong Sevens.”

Meanwhile, the mining town of Zvishavane will come alive as Zvishavane Bulls host the first pre-season XVs tournament of the year.
According to the National Rugby League fixtures secretary, Larry Chikukura, the Zvishavane Bulls invitational tournament will see teams from the Southern Region taking part.

However, these teams will not be having the services of other players, especially those that were selected for the Southern Region teams for the selection trials at Sports Club today.