Tela takes part in Las Vegas Sevens

be one of the core teams that play at all the tournaments.
Currently, they are only invited to play at certain tournaments.
And that is why they are not part of the teams that are in Las Vegas for the 16-team tournament that kicks off today.
But former Zimbabwe Under-20 and Harare Sports Club centre Takura Tela, who was part of the junior side that took part at the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Georgia last year, will be featuring in Las Vegas.
His university side is taking part in the college division and despite being in the first year at Life College, Tela was good enough to make the grade for the side that traveled from Georgia to Las Vegas for the big stage.
Tela arrived at the college last month and proved good enough to make it into the side who are the national college sevens champions.
“I am so excited about making it into the team of champions and the Las Vegas event will be my first tournament where state representative sides will be competing.
“Colleges all over United States who play Sevens battle it out there and the likes of Arkansas State University, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania State will be there.
“I am very excited man. It’s been hard work since I got here. I was lacking on the fitness side of the game so was put on a program which I am constantly improving and gaining weight.
“At first I thought I could not make it because these guys are very fit happy but now I feel making it for the side is a step towards great things to come,” he said.
Tela said there was a big difference between the game in the States and in Zimbabwe.
“We do field training Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays while our gym sessions are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the players here are very physical, very fit.
“The coaches are very strict on our health if say I have an injury and miss treatment it’s like I have missed a crucial game.”
At the JWRT last year, Zimbabwe played the United States in the last game of the tournament and fell 29-30 to the Eagles junior side.
Tela found himself playing alongside five of the Americans who helped the Eagles beat the Zimbabweans. They include Tyler Black, who came in as a 66th minute substitute, Joe Cowley, OJ Auimatagi, and Drew O’hmann.
He feels Zimbabwe has natural rugby players and, given the resources, they could be good enough to beat the likes of the United States.
“Zimbabwe has raw talent judging from the last game we played against USA last year we are quick and agile but we need to focus on the fitness of our players
“We lost mainly in the second half of every game mainly because the teams focused more on phase plays and keeping the ball tight.
“What we can do as Zimbabweans is to condition ourselves to international standards and have more warm-up games with teams that are as good as the ones we at the JWRT.”