NEW: Cheetahs coach speaks out

Tinashe Kusema

RICKY CHIRENGENDE seems to have finally embraced the opportunity to lead the country’s new-look Cheetahs side.

He was on the touchline during the team’s last assignment at the Rugby Africa Cup Sevens Tournament in September, which led many to believe that former gaffer Graham Kaulback had been quietly demoted in favour of his old assistant.

However, the Chirengende describes it as more of a reshuffle than a demotion.

“It is not an official appointment as such, but rather an internal ‘switcheroo’,” he said.

“After we came back from the Challenger Series back in April, we saw that we needed to double down on our efforts in order to be more competitive.

“We needed to bring in foreign-based players, and that needed money.

“Graham (Kaulback) is very good at the marketing side of things and he made the decision to concentrate on that, while I take over things from a coaching perspective.

“The goal of the exercise was to fully utilise all our strengths as a means to help the team.”

Chirengende’s supposed promotion was one of many surprises to come out of the tournament, as Kenya — rather than favourites South Africa — punched their ticket to next year’s Paris Olympic Games.

The Shujaas were crowned the 2023 Rugby Africa Cup champions after emerging 17-12 winners over the Blitzboks in the final of the tournament held at Harare Sports Club’s Machinery Exchange Stadium.

The win means Kenya have now booked their ticket for next year’s Paris Olympics, while both second- and third-placed South Africa and Uganda, respectively, will have one more crack at qualification at the Repechage tournament.

The date and venue of that tournament are yet to be announced.

However, it is believed it could be held during the first half of 2024.

Of the four African Sevens powerhouses, only Zimbabwe came out empty-handed, as the hosts lost out 12-24 to Uganda in the third- and fourth-place play-off.

But the new Cheetah’s coach prefers to look on the bright side, as his charges fought gallantly during the two-day rugby event.

“Yeah, that was a tough one,” he said.

“I think this was the toughest Africa Cup campaign to date as South Africa never come to these events.

“Since the Olympics added rugby to the schedule, they have always finished inside the top-four on the HSBC Sevens circuit and qualified automatically.

“With Kenya a regular fixture on the circuit, too, it has traditionally been Zimbabwe and Uganda vying for honours in this tournament.

“That all changed this year.”

He expressed disappointment at missing out on a top-three finish.

“Losing three of our key players on the final day sort of got us unhinged,” he added.

“Mafura (Tapiwa) did not play at all, after which we lost Riaan O’Neil and Hilton Mudariki for the semi-final against Kenya, and that really put us at a disadvantage.

“We went into that bronze medal play-off with only nine men (as opposed to 11) and three of our backs were also nursing injuries.

“We had to make some tactical changes and got unstuck due to systematic errors,” he said.

The duo of O’Neil and Mudariki were ruled out for the Kenya game due to concussions, adding to the growing list of sidelined players that also had Mafura and Shingi Katsvere.

“As a team, I think we showed what we can do and what we are capable of doing, especially during our last pool game, in which we completely blew Uganda out of the water.

“Over the last couple of years, we have not come close to beating them and this is the beginning of bigger things to come.”

Chirengende could not help but throw a little shade at South Africa during his review of the tournament.

While many consider the Blitzboks’ 17-12 loss an upset, he was not the least bit surprised.

“I did tell a couple of people that South Africa are in this tournament (Africa Cup) for a reason; they haven’t been the invincible Blitzboks for some time, and coming here just showed that,” he said.

“They were up for the taking and their semi-final against Uganda was a tight game for them.

“In the final, Kenya ran away with it and deserved to win.

“There is a lot to fix in that Blitzbok household, but we have our own problems here and can’t really pay too much attention to that result.

“My biggest takeaway from the tournament is that the gap between the top sides and the rest is quickly closing, especially when you figure in the performances of teams like Burkina Faso and Madagascar.

“Those countries are on the up, and nations are now investing more and more into the Sevens’ game,” he said.