Sevens swansong for Leitao

OLD GEORGIANS veteran prop Jacques Leitao is ready to call it a day and has chosen this year’s Dubai Sevens Invitational as his swansong.

“It’s something I have been mulling over for some time but now it feels right,” said Leitao. “There are a lot of young, hungry and talented youngsters coming up, both in the sport and more specifically at OGS, so I leave the team in good hands.”

Leitao also did business for Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club but has spent the better part of the last decade at OGs.

He has an impressive international career, getting his first caps for both the Zimbabwe Sables and Cheetahs in 2006 and skippering the latter for nearly ten years.

Leitao was in the thick of things as OGs began preparing for the Dubai Sevens Invitational in the capital last week.

The December 1-2 tournament runs concurrently with the World Rugby Sevens Series and will see over 200 teams heading to the United Arab Emirates.

It is the first tournament of the 2017-18 World Rugby Sevens Series season and OGs coach Grant Mitchell is excited.

“It’s a massive honour, it’s a massive event,” said Mitchell. “This competition is massive and that goes right from the top, which is the HSB Sevens World Series all the way down to the men’s veterans section.

“You have the top 16 teams that participate in the World Series, and you have a division below that which is the International Invitational men’s competition. That is the competition we will be taking part in.

“We are not only going to Dubai for ourselves, as OGs Rugby Club, we view this as an opportunity to showcase to the world that the talent that is in Zimbabwe.”