The Sunday News
Allan Foti, Sports Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) will this week announce the new Sables head coach with former national team captain, Brendan Dawson rumoured to have replaced South African Peter de Villiers as favourite to get the nod.
This was confirmed by ZRU president, Aaron Jani last Friday with the Union’s supremo adding that the exact date for the announcement would be decided tomorrow.
“We will be announcing our new national team coach sometime this week, but we will only be in a position to confirm the day after Monday (tomorrow),” Jani told Sunday Sport.
The Union advertised the Sables head coach job on December 28 and Dawson became the first coach to publicly confirm that he has submitted his application for the post. Other applicants for the job are Briton Collin Osborne, Griquas coach Peter Engledow and de Villiers.
The current financial position of the Union could see Dawson getting the job despite earlier reports that the Jani-led ZRU executive board was looking to employ a coach who has coached a first-tier nations.
Dawson led the Sables to the Africa Cup title in 2012 before agonisingly coming close to leading the side to the 2015 Rugby World Cup that was hosted by England. He is expected to be named as Sables’ coach after revelations that while de Villiers was the Union’s preferred choice, they could be hamstrung by a lack of funding more so since World Rugby cut their grant by 45%.
The Sables have been without a coach since Cyprian Mandenge was fired last year. — @AllanFoti
