Sundaymail Editor
Sports Editor
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union has resolved to make a passionate appeal to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) for the game to be allowed to resume training despite the Government having listed the discipline among those deemed at high risk of spreading the coronavirus.
The Government, through the SRC, gave the green light to a host of disciplines such as archery, horse racing, tennis, athletics and rowing to resume, which they felt were Covid-19 low risk sports. But rugby, football and karate were among those that remained suspended while gymnasiums are still closed.
The ZRU, is however, in a quandary as it has to organise a training camp for the national Sevens side, the Cheetahs, who are set to take part in an Olympic Games qualifying round known as the Repechage.
That Repechage, which is for the runners-up from the zonal qualifiers, is set for Monaco, France from June 19-21.
Monaco was selected by World Rugby to host the Sevens Repechage, the final qualification event for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
With 21 of the 24 teams already qualified for the Olympic rugby Sevens competition, the remaining two women’s and one men’s spots will be determined in Monaco amid indications that the health and well-being of players, fans and the wider community remains a top priority. The men’s tournament will involve Brazil, Chile, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Rugby Sevens is expected to be one of the most highly anticipated events of the Tokyo Games, following the outstanding success of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, which captured the nation’s imagination with record-breaking broadcast audiences and huge numbers of new rugby fans across Japan and Asia. And the ZRU and the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee are optimistic that the Cheetahs, who were at the 2018 Sevens World Cup in San Francisco, United States in 2018, will be part of the Olympics showcase this year.
However, ZRU president Aaron Jani said they would need the SRC to give them the green light to resume training not just for the Sevens, but also for the longer version of the game, the XVs, as the Sables are already racing against time to be fit for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
Jani said while they welcome the reprieve granted to most of the sporting disciplines, they would advocate for rugby to be allowed a phased return that would start with non-contact training to get the players back into the groove after over more than a year of inactivity.
“This is a very positive move by the SRC and one that we applaud very much.
“But we think it could have gone a bit further and included some of the sports which are considered high risk mainly rugby and soccer in the sense that we should be allowed to start with non-contact training.
“This will put us in line with the other African countries. If you look, for example Zambia started full contact training three weeks ago, Uganda about two weeks ago and Kenya have already started their league so we are being left behind and these are the same countries that we will be competing against. So what we do need to do is come up with our own formula that will allow us to start slowly getting back into the game by allowing non-contact rugby in preparation for the start of our own season,” Jani said. The ZRU boss was also optimistic that they would be given a special waiver to allow the Cheetahs to prepare for the Monaco sojourn.
“We will be applying for special permission for the Cheetahs who will be going for the Repachage to qualify for the Olympics.
“If we do not start now it will be a challenge for us. They (Cheetahs) do have a camp that is coming up which will be based in Stellenbosch for a good 10 days so we need to make these applications and I am sure we will get those exemptions that are required for participating in South Africa,” Jani said.
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter