The Sunday News
Seated (From left) Memory Mucherahohwa; Tauya Murehwa; Ian Gorowa; Ernest Masango; Tonderai Mutambikwa; Lloyd Mutasa and Makwinji Soma-Phiri
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) president, Aaron Jani feels that the Sables should have relied more on foreign-based players in their Rugby Africa Gold Cup, which is also serving as a 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifier.
The Sables are out of contention for a place in next year’s tournament in Japan after a draw with Morocco at home was followed by away defeats to Kenya and Tunisia.
Jani said when they appointed Peter de Villiers as coach in February, they had to make a call on whether to rely entirely on locally-based or foreign domiciled players with the decision made to head into the campaign with both.
“When we hired Peter de Villiers we then got into a situation where we had to come up with a side and we had to make a call whether we were going to rely on foreign-based players entirely or rely on locally-based players or a mixture,’’ Jani said.
After some retrospection, Jani is of the view that they should have gone with a lot more foreign players to give the Sables the results they needed to qualify for the World Cup in Japan.
“We decided to go for a mixture, when we had a discussion with the coach and as you can see the first game we played against Morocco we drew and our performance was a huge improvement from what the Sables did last year and we were hoping that we were going to continue improving. Perhaps looking back now in hindsight we should have relied more on foreign-based players to give us the results we were looking for,’’ he said.
Despite the Sables having no further interest in the World Cup qualifying process, Jani believes that all hope is not lost since there are some positives that came out of the failed campaign. What excites the ZRU boss is the fact that some youngsters with a lot of potential were given an opportunity to showcase their talent. One of those young players who impressed is fullback Shingirai Katsvere who scored two tries on debut in the 23-23 draw against Morocco last month.
“I am not satisfied with the short term situation where we failed to qualify for the World Cup, but what I am satisfied with is that we managed to get a lot of youngsters to come through, youngsters who have now shown us that they have got the potential to rise and we have given them the opportunity and they have proved that they have got the potential. Perhaps what we need to do is to make sure that these youngsters do stay together and that they give us the results we need when it matters,’’ Jani said.
He disclosed that they had given De Villiers the task of coming up with a blueprint to ensure that the Sables do not get relegated from the elite Rugby Africa Gold Cup.
“After the losses that we got in Kenya and in Tunisia, when we came back, we then sat down, we had a three to four-hour meeting with the technical team and especially with PDV, and said look, we now have this crisis on our hands where we are trying to avoid relegation, can you come up with a blueprint and tell us how we are going to avoid relegation.
“So as we speak, Peter de Villiers is busy at work coming up with a blueprint of how he is going to restructure in order to come up with a team that can make sure that we win the last two games. The union on its side has also made sure that we are going to assist him with a technical team we have appointed or are working to appoint a selection panel which will help him navigate the local knowledge in terms of players,’’ said Jani.
On what plans they have for the Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 players who won all the three matches they played at the Academy Week in Paarl, South Africa, Jani indicated that they were working on a detailed arrangement to make sure that these youngsters are not lost from the system.
“We are working on an elaborate programme where we have identified that development is the way to go and we have indeed restructured the ZRU to make sure that the goals of development are met, in terms of the teams that are coming from the Craven Week,’’ he said.
The Junior Sables capped off a fine display at the Academy Week with a 27-6 triumph Namibia last Saturday. Jani said the elaborate plan is centred on nutrition and conditioning for the national team players. It is being spearheaded by Sables team doctor Taurai Chipamaunga.
“What we have done is we are working on a national programme, in terms of the national teams, which is going to focus on two areas, nutrition and conditioning. With this programme now all these players that were in the Under-18 set-up are going to be passed on to the Under-20 and the Under-20 we are looking at, instead of just looking at the tournament that we normally look forward to the Africa Cup, we are now looking at a situation where we extend it and have a lot more games,’’ he said.
Zimbabwe face Namibia in Bulawayo on 4 August and Uganda on 18 August away with the Sables requiring to win at least one of those matches in order to stay in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup.
