The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda in Victoria Falls
THE Zimbabwe senior national sevens rugby team, the Cheetahs cruised into today’s semifinals of the inaugural Kwese Sports Victoria Falls Sevens at Victoria Falls Primary School with an impressive run of form which saw them resoundingly win all their Group B fixtures yesterday.
It will be an interesting battle for the Gilbert Nyamutsamba mentored Cheetahs as they are good as meeting their second string side, the Goshawks who are coached by former Zimbabwe international Tangai Nemadire for a place in the final.
Zimbabwe defeated Zambia 21-0, saw off the President’s VII 34-0 and ended the day with a 63-0 demolition of Botswana A to finish as the best team from their group having scored 118 points and not conceded any. Namibia topped Group A as they also won all the three matches they played. The Namibians, who take on Group A runners up Zambia in the semifinals beat Botswana 26-0, defeated Goshawks 12-7 before they defeated Zambia A 19-5.
Veteran Gardner Nechironga, back in the Cheetahs side after a few years absence showed that he has not lost his spark with a hat trick of tries in the opening match against the Zambians. Hooker Nelson Madida, making his Cheetahs debut was also in fine form with four tries on the day, including a hat trick against the President’s VII.
Cheetahs skipper Hilton Mudariki expressed his satisfaction with how things turned out on the opening day. He felt that they got off to a slow start before they picked things up to end the day on a high note. On the fixture against Goshawks, Mudariki believes it will be a tough battle because their opponents did put their hands up for Cheetahs selection with the coaches having a hard time to select the final squads.
“We started off a bit slow but we picked it up with each game and we finished off very well against Botswana so I am very happy with today. We spoke about it before the first game before the first day, defence is a big thing for us we wanted to make sure we are strong in that area we started off very well with our defence, our attack let us down in the first game but then our attack played its part in the second game but defence went down a bit but I feel that in the last game everything was put together and we put in a good performance,’’ said Mudariki.
On the team’s chances of winning the tournament, Mudariki described their chances as being great with the new players having settled in well which goes to show that there is depth in the team.
Madida attributed his fine performance to all the support he got from his teammates since rugby is not an individual sport.
“First of all its amazing, most of all rugby is not an individual sport it’s a team sport, for me to perform well it’s the push from the captain Hilton and the other senior guys like Gardner, Sithole(Lucky), the likes of Lenience, the guys have really pushed me to do something better. I am very glad to have a good start in Cheetahs and hopefully I will do better enough to stick with the boys because it’s looking good,’’ said Madida.
Besides the seniors tournament, there is also a competition for the Under-19 running concurrently at the same venue.
Some of the notable dignitaries who graced the first day of the tournament were the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport and Recreation Godfrey Chipare, Victoria Falls Mayor Sifiso Mpofu as well as Sports and Recreation Commission board member Clement Mukwasi.
— @Mdawini_29
